Bashir says no Sudanese will ever be tried abroad

"We categorically reject that any Sudanese be tried outside Sudan... We will never surrender any citizen to be tried abroad," Bashir was quoted by the AP as telling a news conference in Istanbul, where he attended a cooperation meeting of Turkish and African leaders.

Bashir’s visit to Istanbul was his first trip abroad since a prosecutor of The Hague-based International Criminal Court asked last month for his arrest on 10 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the war-ravaged region of Darfur.

Bashir said the prosecutors move was encouraging rebels in Darfur to fuel unrest to unseat the government.

"The attempt to use the so-called international justice against the country... is an attempt to encourage rebel groups opposing peace to continue destruction and destabilization... to topple the regime in Sudan," he said.

Sudan has "its own judicial institutions... (and) is capable of trying anyone who violates justice," he also said, adding that some members of the military were already put on trial.

Sudan flatly refuses to recognize or having any dealings with the ICC, and has launched a diplomatic campaign to freeze any proceedings against Bashir.

Many African and Arab states have also called on the court not to interfere in Darfur, arguing that its drive to prosecute war crimes could harm efforts to bring peace to the troubled region.

Bashir said the situation in Darfur had notably improved, claiming that 80 percent of the region now enjoyed peace and that no epidemics and starvation were plaguing its people.

Human rights activists have criticized Turkey for hosting Bashir at the two-day Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit and urged Ankara to reject any effort to suspend the ICC investigation.

Turkey has not ratified the treaty forming the ICC, but was under pressure to become a member as part of negotiations to join the European Union.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who met Bashir Tuesday, said he told the Sudanese leader "that the suffering (in Darfur) must definitely stop... that human rights must be respected... and that the Sudanese government should make great efforts to that end."