Turkey belongs to that category. Not only does it declare a commitment to those rights but also increasingly lets its foreign policy be dictated by that. The recent case of canceling military exercises with Israel was linked, in continuous outbursts by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the human rights violations in Gaza. It also referred to the Goldstone report in many comments. How to explain, then, the apparent insensitivity in hosting a war criminal? As I was writing this article, it was unclear whether Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, the president of Sudan and the commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, would come to Turkey to join the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit. Predictions were he would not hesitate to miss such an occasion.
For a country like Turkey, whose international institutional affiliation is overwhelmingly in the West and which is a negotiating partner with the European Union, this has proven to be a severe test of consistency and credibility.
There is an undeniable arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is suspected of “being criminally responsible, as an indirect [co-]perpetrator, for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property.” In short, al-Bashir is responsible for genocide in the country he rules. During the atrocities, some 300,000 civilians were wiped out, and some 2 million people were displaced.
There is no doubt that inconsistency in the al-Bashir case put Turkey in the spotlight and fueled further speculation of its reliability and its “direction in foreign policy.” President Abdullah Gül’s reaction to the EU -- “What does the EU have to do with [how we act]?” -- is bound to raise eyebrows in the union. A negotiation partner’s duty is to be in harmony with its foreign policy.
Yes, Ankara may seek shelter in the pretext that it has not signed the Rome Statute, but this does not help “cover up” the ethical breach in the al-Bashir case. What is also important to note is that Turkey is a member of the UN Security Council and should act in line with its resolutions. If it welcomes a war criminal, it will result in a severely damaged image in the democratic community.
Yet, one should seek the underlying reasons for this problematic stand. Media here, unfortunately, chose to look the other way on this issue, displaying an even more visible hypocrisy, “hiding” rather than “uncovering” those reasons.
When I discuss the issue with my sources, I hear two arguments for ignoring international law. The first, I am told, has to do with the unity of Sudan. African nations, it is argued, are unable to help maintain unity, so countries such as Turkey must help “assist in the right way.” Al-Bashir is seen as “the only man who can maintain unity.”
There is, naturally, more than a rather meaningless “counter-partition” argument. The second one is money and oil. Ankara intends, if the visit takes place, to sign free trade agreements with al-Bashir. The Milliyet daily reported yesterday that there are now a total of 12 trade agreements with Khartoum and a special one concerning oil reserves. The volume of trade increased from $43 million to an estimated $350 million. The value of Turkish contractors in infrastructure projects is more than $800 million. The Turkish-Sudanese Business Council pushes for more investments and trade.
Yes, it is difficult to carry the banner of righteousness in international policy. But, if we have to value what Erdoğan says, namely that “terror has no religion,” and if we pay attention to the statements that what Israel has done in Gaza amounts to “state-sponsored terror,” the case of Sudan falls, too, naturally into that category.
Whether this visit takes place or not, the incident should have shown Ankara that there must be a clear choice in the case of sought war criminals. As long as Sudan is ruled by al-Bashir and his staff, the test for Ankara’s credibility will remain valid.
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