Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his country’s officials to not attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week due to the organizers’ position on Israel's war on Palestinians in Gaza, Bloomberg reported this week, citing sources close to the matter.
"Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek was planning to attend the annual gathering of political and business leaders until Erdogan, who has criticized Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza, stopped him from going," the Bloomberg report says, citing unnamed sources.
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| Davos, Switzerland file image |
A World Economic Forum spokesman said that the "serious security and humanitarian situation in the Middle East will be a key focus" of the summit.
"We will be providing a platform for key stakeholders from the region and beyond to share views on how to de-escalate and find ways back to diplomacy. In this respect, we will also have over 50 leaders from the Arab world, including a high-level Palestinian representative," they said.
Founder and chair of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has called Hamas a "terrorist organization," while Erdogan has, on multiple occasions, described it as "a political party that won past elections" and "a liberation organization."
Bloomberg reports that the decision made by Erdogan to withdraw Turkey's top officials from the summit complicates Turkey's efforts to reconnect with global investors after years of unconventional policies drove them away.
Erdogan has been very vocal about his support for the Palestinian resistance since the early days of the war. Referring to Israel’s actions as "inhumane," the Turkish head of state previously said that "[Israel] can view Hamas as a terrorist organization along with the west. The west owes you a lot. But Turkiye does not owe you anything."
Erdogan then said that Hamas was not a terrorist organization, but a group of freedom fighters defending their land.
"Israel is implementing a strategy of total destruction of a city along with its people … I say openly that Israel is a terrorist state… If Israel continues its massacres, it will register everywhere that it is a terrorist state cursed all over the world," Erdogan also said in November 2023.
