Turkey, EU tension mounting over Sudanese leader's visit

The European Union has urged Turkey, a candidate country, to reconsider the invitation granted to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, a controversial international figure who stands accused of committing war crimes in his country’s western Darfur region.

Al-Bashir plans to arrive in Turkey on Sunday to attend to a summit for the Organization of Islamic Conference, or OIC, alongside Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“It would be a very bad signal for Turkey to host him and let him walk back to his country as a free man,” a European diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Friday, confirming that the 27-member bloc issued a demarche to Turkey on al-Bashir’s visit.

“Turkey is a candidate country and according to Accession Partnership documents, it is equally binding for Turkey to act in line with the international conventions endorsed by the EU,” diplomats said. The International Criminal Court, or ICC, issued an arrest warrant for the 65-year-old leader in March on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, Turkey’s reaction against the EU’s move was harsh. President Abdullah Gül, speaking to reporters, accused Brussels on Friday of interfering in its internal affairs.

“What are they interfering in? This is a meeting held within the framework of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. It is not a bilateral meeting. Everyone should see it this way and act accordingly,” Gül said. A Turkish diplomat reiterated to the Daily News on Friday there was no obligation for Turkey to arrest al-Bashir.

Speaking to reporters in France, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu late Friday denied the claims that the EU had urged Turkey to reconsider allowing al-Bashir to attend the OIC conference, according to the Anatolia news agency. Other Turkish officials also said the EU had not delivered a protest note.

Though the meeting is hosted by the OIC and all invitations were extended by the secretary-general of the organization, Turkey as a sovereign country has the responsibility to fulfill obligations in line with the ICC ruling, according to legal experts.

Turkey has not ratified the Rome Statute, and does not recognize the rulings of the ICC. The experts said, however, as the case at the ICC opened in line with a report forwarded by the U.N. Security Council, Turkey as the member of the United Nations has the responsibility to act in line with the court’s arrest warrant.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised the EU in 2004 that Turkey would ratify the Rome Statute after completing domestic arrangements. Though urged to keep its promise, Turkey has not moved forward on the ratification.

Recalling Erdoğan’s promises, European diplomats confess that they are far from understanding the government’s resistance to ratifying the statute.

The Turkish government believes that arresting al-Bashir at this moment will not help keep stability in an already fragile country. Furthermore, it argues that the real purpose behind the move is to divide Sudan into two parts, Sudan and Darfur, to keep the powerful Khartoum administration away from the oil-rich part of the country. In recent years, Turkey has deepened its commercial and energy ties with Sudan.

The Rome Statute came into force in July 2002 and established the International Criminal Court. It now has the support of more than half the world’s nations. With Japan’s accession on July 17, 2007, a historic benchmark of 105 states have now acceded to or ratified the treaty and 139 are signatories. The new system of international justice represented by the International Criminal Court is an important tool in pursuing punishment for the most serious international crimes.