NEW YORK: Turkey and many other countries are taking the investigation into the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

Mr Cavusoglu made the comments during a news conference in Tunis alongside his Tunisian counterpart, a Turkish news agency reported.

The minister also called on Saudi Arabia to share its findings on the case with the international community.

The only precedent in any such investigation by the world body is the case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was murdered in a terrorist attack in Rawalpindi on Dec 27, 2007.

Pakistan had formally asked the then UN chief Ban Ki-moon at that time to hold investigation.

In November, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held talks with Mr Cavusoglu on the killing.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at the time told reporters that the UN had not yet received a formal request from the Turkish side.

In October, only weeks after the murder, four prominent rights groups — Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders — urged Turkey to ask the UN to investigate the disappearance of Khashoggi.

Michelle Bachelet, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters that it was time for the UN to investigate Khashoggi’s death as the Saudi investigation appeared to be going nowhere.

Mr Guterres last month said he was sticking to his position that he will not act until he gets a referral from one of the UN’s major bodies and one of the member states of the UN.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2018