The Dutch government has called on Turkey to co-operate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite the fact that Ankara has not signed the Statute of Rome, the treaty that created the ICC.

On Thursday, in a written answer to MPs questions, Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said Turkey's decision to invite Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to attend a conference in Istanbul was "incomprehensible".
 

Minister Verhagen said he had expressed his "serious concern" to Ankara's ambassador to the Hague and pointed to Turkey's relations with the European Union as well to the United Nations Security Council's call for countries to co-operate with the ICC. The Swedish government, in its capacity as EU president, has also protested to the Turkish government.
 

The ICC has indicted President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.