Turkey “laughed off” a demand from the International Criminal Court to arrest Sudan's President when he attended a summit in Istanbul, AFP reported.

Sudanese president Bashir is being prosecuted for genocide and war crimes over the conflict in Darfur in 2003. The UN stated that at least 300,000 people were killed and over 2.5 million were displaced during the conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that the ICC appealed to Turkey that al-Bashir should be arrested and handed over to the court. 

“Something like this just makes you laugh. Are we going to just go and hand over to you someone who is a member of the OIC and is taking part in such a summit? What kind of understanding is this? It's impossible to understand it. We just laughed it off,” Erdogan said.

According to him, Sudan agreed to allow Turkey the restoration at Suakin Island. However, Erdogan denied information about plans to build a military base there.