Budapest/Ankara: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Riyadh to prove its claim that the Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been missing since last week, left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The disappearance of Khashoggi, previously a prominent newspaper editor in Saudi Arabia and an adviser to its former head of intelligence, has sparked global concern, particularly after Turkish sources said authorities believed he was killed inside the consulate.

Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia last year saying he feared retribution for his criticism of Saudi policy in the Yemen war and its crackdown on dissent. On Tuesday he entered the consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his forthcoming marriage. Saudi officials say he left shortly afterwards but his fiancee, who was waiting outside, said he never appeared.

“We have to get an outcome from this investigation as soon as possible. The consulate officials cannot save themselves by simply saying ‘he has left’,” Erdogan told a news conference in Budapest, where he is on an official visit.

Erdogan, who said he was personally following the case, added that Turkey had no documents or evidence at hand regarding the case. A Saudi source at the consulate has denied that Khashoggi had been killed at the mission and said in a statement that the accusations were baseless.