Denmark invites Omar al-Bashir to climate meeting

According to Danish Prime Ministry sources, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also been invited to the summit. The same sources addressed the invitations of leaders who have no legal right to enter the EU member countries. Stressing that the organizer is the United Nations, the sources claimed that Denmark was forced to invite the leaders of all UN member countries, including Sudan, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. Thomas Winkler, a legal expert at the Danish Foreign Ministry, said heads of state and government have immunity according to UN laws during summits under the aegis of the UN. “We had to invite al-Bashir,” Winkler said. However, observers believe al-Bashir will be arrested immediately upon arrival in Denmark. The Sudanese president was invited to Turkey by the OIC last week, but following Sudan’s strategic cooperation meeting with neighboring Egypt, al-Bashir chose to not come to Turkey. The EU warned Turkey to arrest the president; however, Turkey said it would not arrest al-Bashir because the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of al-Bashir is not binding on Turkey.