Turkey charges 'two UAE agents' with espionage, probes Khashoggi links

Turkey's public prosecutor has charged two people suspected of spying for the United Arab Emirate with "political and military espionage", the Anadolu state-run news agency said on Friday.

A judicial source told the agency that the two men were charged after "all legal procedures were undertaken".

Anadolu announced earlier in the day that the two were detained as part of an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors into alleged spying by the UAE.

Authorities were investigating whether the suspects could be linked to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year, the agency said.

Turkish media has reported that one of the suspects arrived in October after Khashoggi's brutal killing and that police had been following them over the past six months.

They have reportedly confessed to spying on political exiles.

After first denying Khashoggi's murder, Saudi Arabia later said rogue agents had carried out the operation.

A trial of 11 suspects opened earlier this year in Saudi Arabia.

Much of the case remains unclear, including the role of Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.

Turkey has delicate relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the Arab states that imposed a blockade on Qatar, one of Ankara's close allies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said he would keep investigating Khashoggi's death and has criticised the lack of cooperation from Riyadh.