Turkey defies US, EU pressure on

 

Sudanese president’s visit

09:24, November 09, 2009 by Xinhua writer Chen Ming

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday made a bold statement to openly defy criticism and pressure from the United States and the European Union on the visit of Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur.

Speaking live on Turkey’s state-run TRT TV channel, Erdogan said that he could not confirm a genocide in Darfur during his visit to Sudan.

Also in an address to party members on Sunday, he said “those world leaders who criticize us, have they ever visited Darfur? Their information is solely based on what the rapporteurs are reporting. These kinds of moves will not contribute to world peace.”

“It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide,” he said, adding “that’s why we are comfortable with the visit of al-Bashir.”

Erdogan’s comments came after the EU and the U.S. conveyed their concern over the invitation of Sudanese president to the economic summit of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul.

Philip Gordon, U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, urged Turkey on Friday to act “in consistence” with the United States’ and Europe’s attitude towards Sudan.

The EU asked Turkey on Friday to align its policy on the al-Bashir issue with that of Brussels and indirectly demanded the cancellation of the visit for the sake of the ongoing membership talks. In the meantime, international human rights organizations urged Turkey to arrest al-Bashir if he arrives in Istanbul.

Erdogan responded that “we are aware of the fact that there are some people who want to corner Turkey through al-Bashir’s visit. These people should know well our sensitivities about human rights violations. I went to Darfur myself. I want to ask: how many of these world leaders paid a visit to Sudan, to Darfur? I went thereto see it with my own eyes.”

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is expected to participate in the economic summit in Istanbul on Monday.

Although there was speculation that Ankara had asked al-Bashir not to come to Istanbul to attend the OIC economic summit, there was no official statement either confirming or denying the visit by late Sunday.

“Turkey is not the entity that gave an invitation to al-Bashir. It is rather the OIC who extended an invitation,” Erdogan stressed.

As a response to a diplomatic note by the EU to Turkey over al-Bashir’s visit, Turkish President Abdullah Gul also holds the same view with the prime minister, saying that Sudanese president would visit Turkey within the scope of the OIC meeting.

Gul noted that members of an international organization could visit another country. “A meeting will take place (in Istanbul) within the scope of the OIC. It is not a bilateral visit,” he added.

However, Turkish officials dismissed arguments that a planned visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the ICC for war crimes in Darfur, will be a test of Ankara’s support for international justice and said Turkey was heeding the political implications, as well as the court ruling, in debates over Bashir’s future.

The Sudanese president, who in March became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC at The Hague, is among heads of state and government that Istanbul will host on the occasion of the OIC economic summit.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkey was simply playing host to the OIC meeting and signaled that al-Bashir’s arrest during his visit would be out of the question, underlining that Turkey is not bound by the court’s ruling for his arrest.

A UN Security Council resolution regarding the matter also does not contain language strong enough to create a compelling legal obligation for UN members to cooperate with the ICC in all the steps that it would take in the Darfur situation, the official went on.

Turkey, a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council, has paid heed to the objections of African and Arab nations, which fear the court ruling will destabilize the whole region, bring even more conflict to Darfur and threaten the fragile peace deal that ended decades of civil war between northern and southern Sudan.

The official said Ankara was taking into account both the legal dimension as well as the political and practical implications that implementation of the ICC ruling would create.

South Sudan and the Muslim north fought a two-decade civil war that ended in 2005 with a power sharing peace deal that included provisions for a general election in 2010 and a referendum on southern independence a year later.

There is an ongoing comprehensive peace process which is trying to be implemented there. This process is very sensitive, when one also takes into consideration the fact that general elections and a referendum are ahead. The international community should let this process function in a robust way so that the Sudanese can make their own decision, but they should not be imposed on to make any particular decision, the diplomatic sources said.

Source: Xinhua