Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate on the Middle East at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, saying he might never return to the annual gathering of the rich and powerful.Israel's President Shimon Peres had launched a fiery defense of his country's assault on Gaza over the past month and, with a raised voice and pointed finger, questioned what Erdogan would do if rockets were fired at Istanbul every night.
As the debate, which also included United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Arab League chief Amr Moussa, was ending, Erdogan was cut short as he tried to respond.
"I don't think I will come back to Davos because you don't let me speak," the Turkish prime minister said, as he stood up and walked out of the conference hall in the Swiss ski resort.
"The president spoke for only 25 minutes. I have only spoken for half of that."
Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Erdogan as saying to Peres: "When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches."
In a hastily-called news conference, Erdogan later explained that he had been upset with both the moderation of the debate and Peres' manner.
"My reaction was directed at the moderator. I think that if we have moderation in this way, we won't really get out of Davos what we all come here to get out of Davos, and it would cast a shadow over efforts to reach peace," Erdogan said.
"President Peres was speaking to the prime minister of Turkey -- I am not just some leader of some group or tribe, so he should have addressed me accordingly," he told reporters.
30 January 2009, Friday
REUTERS DAVOS
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At Davos Economic Forum, the Turkish press was looking forward to hearing positive statements concerning the peace negotiations in Gaza and IMF's world strategies. The action that Mr. Erdogan took was shocking of course. But he was right as a Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic. This reaction of Turkey 'pm was to an injustice behaviours of moderator and Mr.Peres. As we consider the time management (his speak was about 12 min.s, half of Peres's) and the importance of the issue, the moderator's behaviour was -so to say- rude. The moderator was saying something like 'its dinner time'. One should comment on this, while people are dying and the war btw Israel and Palestine is getting more fierce, who cares about dinner? It is entirely clear that the moderator, as we look to his background David Ignatius (born to a Jewish family) an American journalist and novelist of Armenian descent, was NOT objective and contradicted his role as a moderator. This panel was the place to discuss these situation fairly and openly but unfortunately it turned into a dirty pool.
Again Prime Minister Erdogan spoke as the conscience of the entire world, not just Turkey. He showed his sensivity as PM and as a HUMAN being for the outrage, cruelty which take place in Gaza.
People we need to WAKE UP, history is repeating while we should learn from the past. Jewish Genocide in 1941,Bosnian Genocide in 1995, Rwanda Genocide in 1994. When will the cruelty stop? When will the human kind stop thinking of themselfs and start thinking of their neighbours? Where did we leave our principals of faith? Where did we leave our principals of humanity??
Aren't we the ones who are looking for 'Peace' ???
WE NEED TO START LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER
And where to start...?
ReplyDeleteRight start yourself. If we al did the problem was solved immediately...;-)
Dear Mr. PhDP I fully agree with you it all start with our selves as Mahatmanda Ghandi once said: You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we or let me say I sometimes can forget and can be quick to take offence and than automatically maladjusted behavior follows..but honestly I do take the chance to repair and apologise for the behavior..Anyhow I believe there is always a solution without violence.
A buon fini settimana caro professor ;-)