A panel on the Middle East process at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, ended with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leaving in protest.
Criticism of attacks and conditions in Gaza
In his first speech in Davos, Erdoğan had said that Gaza had been turned into an open-air prison, isolated from the world. He criticised the fact that Israel had ignored a UN resolution and also attacked UN compounds in Gaza. He accused the rest of the world of having stood by and watched.
Following Israeli President Shimon Peres’ turn, Erdoğan wanted to reply. The moderator of the panel, journalist David Ignatius from the Washington Post, allowed him one minute and then tried to cut him off.
Erdoğan later explained that he walked out of the panel angered by the discrepancy in time allowed him and the other speakers of the panel, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and Amr Moussa, former Egyptian foreign minister and now General Secretary of the Arab League, in comparison to Peres.
Loud voice "sign of guilt"
He was also angered by Peres’ manner of addressing him, sometimes raising his voice and pointing his finger at Erdoğan.
In his short reply after Peres’ speech, Erdoğan said that Peres was older than him and that he would not raise his voice like he had done. He said that raising his voice was a sign of Peres’ guilt.
He added that Israel had been killing children, and that there were former Israeli Prime Ministers who had expressed their pleasure at using tanks against Palestinians. He reminded Peres of the 6th commandment not to kill and also cited an Israeli condemning the attacks in Gaza.
Leaving the panel, Erdoğan told journalists that Peres had been allowed to speak for 25 minutes, whereas he had only been allocated 12 minutes. His last words when leaving the panel had been, in Turkish, “From today, Davos is finished for me. I will not come back.”
Press conference after the event
Davos organiser Klaus Schwab and Erdoğan later held a short press briefing, in which Schwab expressed his sorrow for the event and his hope that the panelists could focus on common points to move forward.
Erdoğan seemed softened, not directly ruling out coming back to Davos. He said that his reaction had been not to Israel or Davos, but to the unfair moderation of the panel. He added that Peres’ style of speaking had been incompatible with an international panel.
Apology from Peres, hero's welcome in Istanbul
On Friday early morning, Shimon Peres called Erdoğan and apologised for his raised voice, explaining that he was hard of hearing. The two agreed that cooperation between the two countries would continue.
Erdoğan’s reaction has to be seen not only in the light of the panel, but also in the context of failed negotiations between Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Hamas. Turkey had taken a leading role in talks prior to the Gaza attacks.
On his arrival back in Istanbul early Friday morning, Erdoğan was greeted by thousands of supporters waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. (TK)
