Different aspects of al-Bashir controversy

Milliyet’s Taha Akyol states that al-Bashir paying a visit to Turkey would lead to many big problems and that it was President Abdullah Gül who prevented the emergence of such a troublesome situation. “Gül sent al-Bashir an unofficial message saying his visit would lead to problems. There are very subtle politics in welcoming al-Bashir’s visit at the official level and giving him the message at the unofficial level that his visit might lead to problems. In this way, Sudan was not humiliated, and a possible crisis that may have erupted over al-Bashir’s visit has been prevented,” explains Akyol. He says even if al-Bashir had come to İstanbul, he would not have had bilateral talks with Gül since he was not included on the list of people who were to meet with the Turkish president. However, shaking hands in line with protocol rules and the photos from this would have given ammunition to the Armenian lobby and opponents of Turkey’s EU membership.

Vatan’s Okay Gönensin finds it very worrisome that the prime minister of Turkey defends a murderer like al-Bashir. “Erdoğan says Gaza and Darfur do not resemble each other. This means there is a difference between the children of Gaza and the children of Darfur. Not knowing what is going on in Darfur is not a sufficient reason to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of the children of Darfur while crying for the sufferings of the children of Gaza,” says Gönensin.