ANKARA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who was charged with genocide in Darfur by International Criminal Court (ICC) last month, denied the charges in Turkey on Wednesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Bashir, who arrived in Turkey on Monday to attend a Turkey-Africa economic cooperation summit, held talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Al-Bashir said the move by the chief prosecutor of ICC encouraged those who do not want peace.
He told a news conference in Istanbul that genocide claims were propaganda made by "enemies", adding "if those figures were accurate, there should be mass graves. Where are those mass graves?"
"It is true that people were killed, but figures are inflated," and "It is true that there is a war between the government and rebels, but why is that rebels against the government are considered downtrodden. It is double standard," he added.
Al-Bashir said his country has always kept doors open for peace and dialogue, adding that they were fighting powers who wanted to divide Sudan.
He said his country would not hand over any Sudanese citizen toan international court.
On July 14, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally requested an arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which was strongly refuted by the Sudanese government.
