Turkey's president urged his Sudanese peer Omar al-Bashir during talks Tuesday to act responsibly and to end the suffering in the Darfur region. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court accuse al-Bashir of genocide by unleashing militias on ethnic African groups in Darfur.
"Human suffering agitates all, no matter which religion, ethnicity or language those who suffer belong to," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he told al-Bashir during their closed-door meeting.
"I told the president (al-Bashir) that the Sudanese government should work hard" to end the violence, Gul said after the talks, according to the AP.
Al-Bashir was among heads of state attending the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, aimed at expanding Turkey's diplomatic and trade relations with the African continent.