The invitation to Al-Bashir to participate in the OIC meeting in Istanbul created a tempest in the Euro-teapot, writes Gareth Jenkins Representatives of the Muslim nations of the world gathered in Istanbul on Monday for the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEK) of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The meeting was attended by 11 heads of state and three deputy heads of state from the OIC's 57 members, but the meeting was overshadowed by the invitation and last minute withdrawal of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir, accusing him of "individual responsibility" for "intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property." It was the first arrest warrant issued by the ICC against an incumbent head of state. The warrant has been opposed by many African and Middle Eastern states, who have argued that the ICC is being used by Western countries to pursue their own political agendas in Sudan. But the warrant received the strong backing of the EU and countries which are members of the ICC are obliged to assist in the implementation of its decisions. Although Turkey is not yet a member of the ICC, it is under intense pressure from the EU to join as part of the process of aligning its foreign policy with the EU prior to eventually joining the union. Turkey does not have close economic, historical or geographical ties with Sudan. Nevertheless, in recent years Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) has sought to strengthen the relationship between Ankara and Khartoum. In February 2006, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Sudan and declared that there was no genocide in Darfur because the Quran forbade tribalism. Al-Bashir visited Turkey twice in 2008 and JDP officials have frequently referred to Sudan as Turkey's "window on Africa". Critics have accused the JDP of double standards, noting the contrast between the vehemence of Erdogan's condemnations earlier this year of Israel's brutal military assault on Gaza and the enthusiasm with which Turkey has cultivated closer ties with Sudan. In August, the JDP abruptly cancelled Israeli participation in Anatolian Eagle, a regular military exercise between Turkish, Israeli and NATO forces, on the grounds that the participating Israeli airplanes could also have been used to bomb civilian targets in Gaza. But last week, when the EU called on Turkey to rescind Al-Bashir's invitation to the OIC meeting, both Erdogan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul fiercely rejected the suggestion, with Gul bluntly telling the EU that Al-Bashir's visit was none of their business. In the end, the Sudanese delegation to the OIC meeting arrived in Istanbul on Sunday night without Al-Bashir. The reasons for the last minute change of heart remain unclear. Officially, Sudanese officials claimed that he needed to stay in Khartoum to participate in political negotiations over the continuing political unrest in the south of Sudan. However, Turkish officials insist that they did not ask Al-Bashir to stay away from the meeting in Istanbul. On Monday, Erdogan again expressed his support for the Sudanese regime and dismissed the allegations about Darfur. "Muslims cannot commit genocide," declared Erdogan. Whatever the reasons for Al-Bashir's non- attendance, the controversy over his planned participation has completely overshadowed the OIC meeting itself and distracted attention from other problems facing the Islamic world. Speaking at the COMCEK meeting, Afghan President Hamid Karzai noted that eight out of every 10 underdeveloped nations belong to the Islamic world. He urged OIC members to cooperate and work together to generate economic growth and development in Muslim countries. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed called on OIC members to address a more specific obstacle to the economic development of his own country and trade in the region by cooperating against the growing problem of piracy off the east African coast. "Let's jointly struggle against the threats in the Gulf of Aden," said Ahmed. "We await your cooperation for the struggle against pirates in Somalia and to eliminate anarchy." Ahmed noted that in 2008 there had been 111 seizures of vessels in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast. In the first six months of 2009 alone, the number of attempted seizures rose to 148.
