Request for Arrest of Omar al-Bashir Mocked by Erdogan

Reports indicate that the International Criminal Court's request to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to Istanbul was met with 'mockery' from the Turkish president. Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for genocide and war crimes, attended a summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul on December 13 this year. This summit was called by Erdogan to express opposition to Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Erdogan stated in an interview with Turkish media that the ICC had sent him a letter requesting Turkish authorities to arrest al-Bashir during his visit and hand him over to the court. The ICC, currently in a temporary shutdown, has not yet confirmed this news. According to Agence France-Presse, Erdogan reacted to the ICC's request on Thursday, January 7, saying, 'Such things are just laughable.' He added, 'Do you think we would go and arrest a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation who has come to attend such a meeting and hand him over to you?' Erdogan further emphasized that Turkey is not a signatory to the treaty established by the ICC. The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established in 2002 to prosecute major crimes when national courts are unable to do so. Omar al-Bashir, who came to power during the Islamist coup in 1989, has been accused by the ICC of committing 'war crimes and crimes against humanity' in the Darfur region. According to UN statistics, 300,000 people were killed and more than 2.5 million displaced during the 2003 crisis in Darfur. Sudan has rejected these figures, claiming only 10,000 were killed during the conflicts. The arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir was issued on February 4, 2009, for 'war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.' At that time, Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Iran's Parliament, made an urgent trip to Sudan to express his support for al-Bashir and made harsh remarks against those condemning him. While the ICC has accused the Sudanese president of 'designing a program of extermination, looting, and sexual violence during the six-year Darfur conflict,' Larijani, upon his arrival at Khartoum airport, described the ICC's ruling against al-Bashir as 'indicative of the dominance of American thinking.' The Darfur conflict lasted several years between Sudanese government forces and an Arab group supported by the government, known as Janjaweed, on one side, and African rebel militias on the other. In 2009, when the arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir was issued, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the Prime Minister of Turkey and reacted to the issuance of this warrant by saying, 'A Muslim cannot commit genocide. A Muslim is incapable of doing such a thing.'