Dec 28, 2017

Turkey "laughed off" a demand from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Sudan's wanted leader when he attended a summit in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Thursday.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes, on December 13 attended a summit of Islamic nations called by Erdogan to denounce US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Erdogan told Turkish reporters in an interview that the ICC wrote a letter to Turkey saying it had information Bashir was in Istanbul for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit and he should be arrested and handed over to the court.

There was no immediate confirmation from the ICC, which is currently in recess, that it made such a demand.

"Something like this just makes you laugh," Erdogan was quoted Thursday as saying on his presidential plane as he rounded off a four-day trip to Africa.