Opheera McDoom
Reuters
KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will visit Turkey next week for the first time since an international court asked for his arrest, government sources said, in a test of Ankara’s support for international justice. Predominantly Muslim Turkey has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), but it is under pressure to do so to bring it closer to European Union standards.
Rights groups say Turkey, anxious to secure entry into the EU, is obliged to arrest Bashir when he lands in Istanbul for a summit of Islamic nations.
One presidential source in Khartoum said on Wednesday: “The decision has been taken. Unless there are last minute changes, he is going.”
Ankara’s government, which has its roots in political Islam, has sought to deepen ties with Khartoum, putting it in an awkward position over the visit.
Asked if Turkish authorities would arrest Bashir during his visit, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity: “No, there are no such plans.”
A public outcry about Bashir’s visit to Turkey could still cause it to be canceled, which would embarrass Khartoum, a Sudanese analyst said.
Activists said there was sure to be opposition from civil society to the visit, adding Turkey had obligations to arrest Bashir as a UN member.
“We most certainly expect Turkey to show respect for this monumental decision by the ICC,” said Ozlem Altiparmak from the Turkish Coalition for the ICC.
“Turkey could see a backlash in public opinion and from civil-society groups if it fails to act while he is here.”
The UN Security Council referred Darfur’s atrocities to the ICC for investigation four years ago.
Based in The Hague, the ICC is the world’s first permanent court set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations.
Bashir has traveled to African countries, who reject the arrest warrant, since March when ICC judges said he was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.
He was last in Turkey in August 2008, before the arrest warrant was announced.
Rebels in Darfur took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the arid region, and Sudan then mobilised militia who, alongside the army, waged a counter-insurgency campaign that drove 2 million people from their homes.
The fighting sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, which the UN says has claimed 300,000 lives.
Washington described the violence as genocide, a term Khartoum rejects. Bashir puts Darfur’s death toll at 10,000.
Turkey’s H1N1 death toll hits 15 amid vaccine row
ANKARA: The death toll from swine flu climbed to 15 in Turkey Wednesday amid simmering controversy over the country’s vaccination campaign following the prime minister’s refusal to have an injection.
The latest victims of the A(H1N1) virus were a 5-year-old boy, two women, aged 24 and 31, and a 55-year-old man, a Health Ministry statement said.
Fatalities have sharply increased this week after the first death was reported on October 24.
Hospitals began vaccinating medical workers on Monday, along with people planning to travel to Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, amid widespread public concern over the safety of the swine flu vaccine.
Health Minister Recep Akdag, eager to dispel the misgivings, had an injection before the cameras Tuesday.
But his gesture was soon overshadowed when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly chided the minister over his insistent calls on citizens to get vaccinated, saying that some experts doubted the safety of the drug.
He then told reporters he would not have an injection himself.
Erdogan’s remarks dealt an “irreparable” blow to the Health Ministry’s credibility, the Turkish Doctors’ Union said Wednesday.
It slammed the government for “failing to be convincing even within itsef” and cast doubt on “how competent it will be in managing a nationwide pandemic.”
The union insisted that “the benefits of the vaccine are much greater than the damage its possible side effects may cause.”
Opponents of the drug say its safety, efficiency and side effects have not been sufficiently tested. – AFP
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