Turkey Top Diplomat Cancels Munich Appearance 'as Israelis Present'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said he had canceled a plan to attend the Munich security conference in protest at the inclusion of Israeli representatives in a session on the Middle East.
"I was going to participate in the conference but we decided not to after they included the Israeli representatives in the Middle East session," he told the official Anatolia news agency in Berlin.
Cavusoglu emphasized that the decision should not be seen as a move against Germany. "Our relationship with Germany is not limited with the Munich conference," he added.
There were no immediate further details but the move comes amid a drastic nosediving under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in relations between Israel and Turkey, which was once a key ally of the Jewish state.
In 2009, Erdogan famously walked off the stage at the World Economic Forum after an angry exchange with the then Israeli president, Shimon Peres.
06 February 2015, 14:54
20
aren't you ashamed of yourself wasting people's time, zero contribution, naive.
06 February 2015, 17:54
00
Eagledung, aren't you ashamed to have such an easily mockable username?
06 February 2015, 15:45
20
Nice to know that according to Turkey, Israel is not in the Middle East.
Instead of speaking out at the conference, that stupid Turkish Minister leaves the field open for the Israelis. That is what is called "shhoting yourself in the foot".
06 February 2015, 17:53
10
Perhaps they should stop their business ties with Israel instead?
06 February 2015, 18:41
01
Interesting ... This seems to give Israel a certain veto power over whether Turkey may attend key meetings that Israel has the option to attend. It makes sense for Israel to attend only those that it seeks to prevent Turkey from attending.
