Turkey likely to approve ICC in 2010-2011

Following a last-minute cancellation of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s visit to Istanbul, Turkey has said it would reconsider joining the Rome Statute if terrorism is included as a crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, or ICC.

Turkey said its consideration is dependant on the outcome of the next review conference, which will take place next year in Uganda.

“Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised Turkish approval of the Rome Statute in 2004. But since then we have not seen any progress on its ratification,” a senior European diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday. “Now we understand the government is waiting on how the content of the statute will be amended at the review conference,” the diplomat said.

A Turkish diplomat, on the other hand, said a working group composed of officials from the Foreign and Justice ministries in 2005 already concluded its work and submitted its report to the government. “Afterward joining the statute is a political decision. The ball is in the government’s court,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat hinted that no initiative should be expected before the amendment of the content of the Rome Statute takes place.

The European Union urges Turkey to ratify the Rome Statute as soon as possible. It also urged Turkey to align its foreign policy with that of the EU over the Darfur atrocities committed by the al-Bashir administration.

“No doubt, sooner or later Turkey will ratify the statute if it wants to join the EU,” said the European diplomat. “But at the moment, it prefers to wait to see how the statute will be revisited at the upcoming review conference.”

Turkey is among the few countries that preferred not to sign the Rome Statute, which was endorsed in 1998. The Rome Statute gave birth to the ICC, the first permanent, treaty-based criminal court established to help end impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes that concern the international community.

The jurisdiction of the court is limited to crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Terrorism should be added

The review conference of the statute will take place next year in early June in Kampala, Uganda. The signatory countries are free to propose amendments to the statute but their approvals require the support of a two-thirds majority of state parties. Amendments will not enter into force until it has been ratified by seven-eighths of the state parties. Any amendment to the list of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court will only apply to state parties that ratified it.

In line with Turkey’s expectations, the Netherlands has proposed that terrorism be included in the statute.

“There is all too often impunity for acts of terrorism in cases where states appear unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute these crimes. Impunity for such serious crimes calls for a role for the International Criminal Court. After all, the court was established to prosecute the most serious crimes that concern the international community,” read the Dutch proposal.