Hürriyet, Turkey
Jan 31 2009

Turkish PM becomes a hit after Davos

ISTANBUL – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s heated exchange with
Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos on
Thursday was widely covered by Turkish newspapers yesterday.

Daily Hürriyet went with the headline "Davos’ Spirit Dies." In
its sub-headline, the daily went on to say that Prime Minister
ErdoÄ?an, who reacted harshly to Israeli President Peres’s
angry attitude, criticized the moderator for not giving him enough
time and had left the panel. A caption beneath the headline made
reference to moderator David Ignatius from the Washington Post
stating that he was known for his closeness with the Armenian lobby
and has in the past-criticized ErdoÄ?an’s policies on the
Middle East.

Daily Star allocated the whole front page to the story, headlining the
incident as a "Historic Ultimatum." A picture of ErdoÄ?an
dismissing President Peres with a hand gesture took up the majority of
the page and a quote from ErdoÄ?an was used as a sub-headline
"When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill."

Daily Sabah said ErdoÄ?an had been welcomed by thousands of
people at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport at 2.15 a.m.

Daily Vatan’s headline was " Peres Provoked, ErdoÄ?an left
aggressively," and went on to quote ErdoÄ?an who spoke at a
joint press conference, as saying that the Israeli president did not
tell the truth in his 25-minute speech.

Daily Radikal went with the headline "A KasimpaÅ?a tune in
Davos," a reference to the prime minister’s birthplace, and quoted the
prime minister as saying he would never return to Davos again.

Conservative newspapers Yeni Å?afak and Zaman also headlined the
story. Yeni Å?afak went with " Historic Slap," and quoted
ErdoÄ?an as saying, "Differences in religion are not
important. Anti- Semitism and people and phobias against Muslims are
human crimes, it does not matter what religion they are from." The
daily also highlighted that Israeli President Shimon Perez had called
ErdoÄ?an and apologized for the tension that occurred in Davos
during the session on Gaza. Zaman headlined the incident as
"ErdoÄ?an storms out of the panel and Peres apologizes."

Foreign coverage of the incident
The heated rhetoric of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an
toward Israel made headlines across the world.

BBC News reported that Turkey’s prime minister stormed off the stage
at the World Economic Forum in Davos after a heated debate on Gaza
with Israel’s president. It was reported that in reaction to
ErdoÄ?ans remark: "I find it very sad that people applaud what
you said. You killed people. And I think that it is very wrong," Peres
responded: "The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas, and if
rockets were fired into Istanbul you would have reacted the same."

Israeli English daily The Jerusalem Post covered the story of
ErdoÄ?an criticizing Peres and leaving Davos as one of its top
headlines and described the prime minister’s arrival to Istanbul as
the homecoming of a hero, stating "Some outside the airport gate held
banners that applauded his Palestinian stance in Davos."

Israel’s daily Haaretz highlighted ErdoÄ?an’s statement that his
anger over Gaza expressed in Davos was directed at the Israeli
government, not the Jewish people. "I am very sorry for what happened
and friends could sometimes have an argument between themselves,"
Peres told Erdogan during the telephone conversation, it was reported.