Turkey feeling the heat over Sudanese president’s visit
November 6, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The Turkish government on Friday fought to fend off mounting criticisms of its invitation to Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir for participation in the a summit of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul.
Earlier this week, Turkish officials insisted that they have no legal obligation to arrest the Sudanese president who faces an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his alleged role in Darfur atrocities.
Turkey is not a signatory to the Rome Statute but is required to ratify it in order to achieve its long standing goal of joining the European Union (EU).
It was revealed today that the EU passed a note to the Turkish government urging it to reconsider the invitation it made to Bashir through a Swedish diplomat, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, who visited the foreign ministry today.
But the Turkish president Abdullah Gul reacted angrily to the EU request calling it an “interference”.
“What is it to them?” the Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.
“This is not a bilateral visit. This is a multilateral occasion…. Everybody should see it in this way and show understanding,” Gul said.
But legal experts speaking to Turkish newspapers today said that the government as the host country can still control the list of attendees to any summit held on its territory.
But a Turkish government official told Agence France Presse yesterday that “to arrest him after having invited him does not seem probable to me”.
This week the Turkish Justice minister Sadullah Ergin in statements carried by Hurriyet Daily News was less assertive on the issue saying only that “the statutory provisions of international law would be fulfilled”.
The US was less outspoken on the issue though two officials today commented on the upcoming Bashir visit.
“What we hope is that Turkey’s message with the Sudanese government is consistent with ours and with our European friends,” said Philip Gordon, State Department’s assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, during a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington.
The spokesperson of the US State Department Ian Kelly told reporters today that Washington “think that leaders should be held accountable for their actions. And we think that what happened in Sudan needs – there needs to be accountability for it”.
“We would expect Turkey to raise these kinds of issues. If they were to have any sort of bilateral meeting with Mr. Bashir, we would expect them to raise these issues about the importance of accountability in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. But it’s really up to the Government of Turkey to decide [whether to allow Bashir to attend” Kelly added.
Sudan has yet to officially verify the visit despite confirmation a presidential source made to Reuters that Bashir plans to attend.
The newspaper for the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Al-Raed said that
Bashir will meet with several leaders during the Istanbul summit.
The Sudanese official news agency (SUNA) said that Bashir will travel tomorrow to Egypt to take part Sino-African forum on Sunday and Monday but no mention of the Turkey summit.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) both issued statements urging Turkey to either block his visit or arrest him.
“President Omar al Bashir is a fugitive from international justice, charged with responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes against men, women and children, including murder, rape, torture and forced displacement. It would be a disgrace for Turkey to offer him safe haven,” said Christopher Keith Hall, Senior Legal Advisor, at Amnesty International.
“It would not only amount to obstruction of justice, but just as offering shelter to a fleeing bank robber constitutes a crime under national law, so, too, would sheltering a fugitive from international justice be complicity in crime” he added.
“Turkey’s international image will plummet if it welcomes a man wanted to answer for some of the most heinous abuses against civilians in the world today,” said Elise Keppler, senior counsel with Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “Turkey, after all, serves on the UN Security Council, whose referral led to the warrant against him.”
The controversy surrounding Bashir’s visit highlights the political dilemma facing his travel abroad.
In September Al-Bashir adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani told Associated Press in an interview that the ICC’s decision “limiting the movement of the president”.
(ST)