Ankara: Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, facing an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur, has pulled out of a summit in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.
Quoting "credible" sources, the agency said that the Sudanese delegation in Istanbul to prepare for Monday's economic summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) could clarify reasons behind the cancellation later.
The cancellation came amid mounting speculation over Beshir's attendance at the summit of the Islamic grouping after the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, told the government it should bar or arrest him.
Sudan's leader is the subject of an international arrest warrant after being the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Turkey has maintained that it is not signatory to the treaty which set up the Hague-based ICC, and that Beshir was invited to the meeting by the OIC and not Ankara.
"The Sudanese see and understand well the difficulties," a high-ranking Turkish diplomat who requested anonymity said ahead of the cancellation.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the Islamist-rooted ruling AKP party, said he questioned the charges against Beshir and that "No Muslim could perpetrate a genocide," according to Anatolia.
"If there was such a thing (a genocide) we could talk about it face to face with President Beshir," Erdogan said.
China as well as several African and Arab countries have criticised the ICC arrest warrant, despite which Beshir promptly received an invitation to visit Cairo from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Last year, Turkey came under fire for hosting Beshir twice, before the warrant was issued: a bilateral visit in January and then at multilateral cooperation talks with African leaders in August.
The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.
The Sudanese government disputes the death toll, saying 10,000 people died.
The OIC summit set to address economic issues such as trade and poverty is expected to draw other top Muslim leaders, including Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and newly re-elected Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Istanbul for the OIC summit after Erdogan visited Tehran last month when the two countries signed partnerships on trade and energy.
Ankara's efforts to build closer ties in the Muslim world -- including Iran, Sudan and Syria that are at odds with the West -- have raised concerns in the West that Turkey, a NATO member, is turning towards the East.
Bureau Report