What does Bashir know too well?

But Jews as "killers" for the Turkish prime minister and as "a nation to confront" for the Sudanese is not the only pretty coincidence. Who else would, er, not too much like the Jews? Osama bin Laden, for example. Who is bin Laden? Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s very important guest for five years in the 1990s when he consolidated his terror network’s operations. And who has twice very warmly hosted Mr. Bashir? Mr. Erdoğan’s government. What does the United Nations think Mr. Bashir is responsible for? 300,000 coffins and 2.5 million displaced people since the Darfur conflict broke out in 2003. Hence the ICC’s arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir, five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes. And how does Mr. Bashir’s ambassador to Ankara describe Mr. Erdoğan’s Turkey? A friendly and sister country. Who was the first Muslim prime minister to pay a visit to Mr. Bashir’s Sudan? Mr. Erdoğan.

Who does Mr. Bashir think are the true criminals? The leaders of the United States and Europe. Which country does Mr. Erdoğan’s government wish to look pretty these days? The United States. Which political bloc does Mr. Erdoğan claim he is taking Turkey to? The European Union.And what did Ali Babacan, foreign minister, feel about the arrest warrant for a man on charges of crimes against humanity? Concerned. Yes, we are concerned. What did Mr. Babacan call for? Dialogue with the Bashir administration. Any other suggestions from the Turkish foreign minister? Yes: We should not look at the legal viewpoint and ignore the political perspective because if we do so it could be problematic. Any further suggestions? Yes: We should not exclude the man wanted for crimes against humanity and have dialogue with him. Perhaps Mr. Babacan knows what the ICC prosecutors do not know. Perhaps the all too innocent Mr. Bashir is a reincarnation of Indra Gandhi.

Further questions É Who is the man who invited bin Laden to Sudan in 1991? Hassan al-Turabi, leader of the National Islamic Front, a movement known to the Sudanese for its Sharia practices, including amputations and hangings. Who else is Mr. Turabi? An Islamic comrade whose ideas were in the 1970s widely circulated among Islamist groups in Turkey, including Mr. Erdoğan’s. Israel again É What does the Turkish secretary general of the Organization for Islamic Conference, or OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, think about the arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir? That it shows a double standard because the ICC did not investigate the Israeli incursion into Gaza.

Now let’s try to sum up. There is an Islamist dictator in the heart of Africa and he is wanted by an international court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The man thinks the real criminals are American and European leaders. In the meantime, EU candidate Turkey is "concerned" not because he committed tragic crimes but because he is now wanted.

In return, the dictator sees Turkey as a sister and friendly country. And the Turkish head of the OIC rushes to the dictator’s aide because the international community did not prosecute the Israeli leaders over Gaza. According to Mr. Ihsanoğlu, any dictator should feel free to commit any crime against humanity and escape trial as long as the Jews go unpunished for the Gaza offensive.

Interesting story. The Israelis É That same coincidence again ... taking us all back to Jews as killers and a nation to confront. But where else in this nice little story do we come up with Jews? In addition to bin Laden, Mr. Turabi invited several violent Islamist groups and allowed them to operate freely, including Abu Nidal Organization, which had killed more than 900 people in 20 different countries, aiming mainly at Jews. Jews again ... What an increasingly interesting coincidence! A final question. What is the ideology that at different or the same periods of their political careers brought together Mr. Erdoğan, Bashir, Turabi, Babacan and Ihsanoğlu? I should say liberalism and make a career move to fairy tale writing.