Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday after he was refused a chance to respond to a longwinded speech by Israeli President Shimon Peres defending Israel’s recent war on the Gaza Strip.

Washington Post journalist David Ignatius, who was moderating the forum, cut Erdogan off when he asked to respond to Peres’ impassioned intervention.

Erdogan stood up to leave the stage. He had been sitting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa.

“I do not think that I will return to Davos,” he said in Turkish.

Erdogan did interrupt Peres, saying “You are older than me. I feel that you may have some feeling of guilt so you might be violent. I remember the children who were killed on the beach and I remember what two of your ministers said that they feel satisfied with themselves when attacking the Palestinians with tanks.”

“I feel sad when people applaud what you say because a large number of people were killed and I think it’s a mistake and inhuman to applaud an operation that led to such outcomes,” he added.

Later on Erdogan held a press conference in which he criticized Ignatius, the moderator, for only allowing Erdogan 12 minutes to talk, compared to Peres’ 25.

A Turkish news agency said that Peres called Erdogan to apologize, but Israel has denied this report. Peres himself said that he hoped that the relationship between the two countries would not be harmed.

A right-wing member of the Israeli Knesset, Arieh Eldad, called for a boycott of Turkey for what he called “personal security reasons and political justice.”

Erdogan received a hero’s welcome upon his return to Istanbul later on Friday. Huge crowds gathered at the airport to cheer him. Gaza. The demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing Israel and its onslaught on Gaza and telling Erdogan “we are proud of you.”

Erdogan addressed the assembled will-wishers, saying “the voice of Turkey should be a message to the world to know the importance and truth over force.”

Several Palestinian political factions have praised Erdogan for speaking for the victims of Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza.

Source: Maan News Agency