"In His Own Words: Erdogan on Israel, Hamas, and the Gaza Conflict
February 11, 2009
On January 29, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of a panel that included Israeli president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, further suggesting to skeptics that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is turning its back on the West. Erdogan also chided Peres for 'being old' and said to him, 'You [using the second person plural pronoun in Turkish, referring to either Israelis or Jews, or both] know very well how to kill people.' Is Erdogan's Davos outburst an isolated event, or is it representative of the AKP's attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The AKP has denied criticism that it is moving Turkey away from the country's traditional pro-Western stance or that it is abandoning Turkey's historic position as a friend of both Israelis and Palestinians. The following is a sampling of Erdogan's views on Israel, Hamas, and Gaza, providing background to the debate about the AKP's foreign policy:"
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