Turkish parliament speaker says Bashir arrest warrant controversial

"We have yet to see the details of the decision, which is a very serious one. We do not know on what grounds it was made. You may like him or not, but this is an arrest warrant on a popularly elected president," the Anatolian Agency quoted Toptan as telling reporters during a visit to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where he met high-level officials, including President Ali Abdullah Saleh.  Â

"The legal grounds of the ICC decision are controversial and I am concerned it would worsen the problems in Darfur," Toptan added.   Â

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued Wednesday an arrest warrant against Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity over the six-year conflict in Darfur that the United Nations say has killed 300,000 people.

 

The move has sharply divided the international community and raised deep concerns about the plight of the millions living in Darfur, often in miserable conditions in one of the remotest areas of the planet.

 

The United States, which has said genocide was being committed in Darfur, is leading calls for him to be brought before international justice but Sudan’s allies including Africa, the Arab world and China want the warrant suspended.

 

TURKEY IN LIMBO

The situation also places in Turkey, which garnered the support of African states in its bid for a seat on the Security Council and which has close ties with Bashir, in a difficult position.

 

Diplomatic sources say Turkey, who holds a non-permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council, is likely to push for a delay in the implementation of the arrest warrant in the Council for 12 months. Turkey aims to prevent its relations with Africa from being harmed and to protect Sudan from a possible intensification of internal clashes, sources added.

The Islamist-rooted Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government faced criticism for hosting Bashir twice; first on a bilateral visit in January, and then at multilateral cooperation talks with African leaders in August.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan also said on Thursday his country is worried about the impact that the arrest warrant for Bashir could have on efforts to stabilize the conflict-torn country.