UN guard was taken to hospital
Security guards for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan fought with UN guards at the annual UN summit last week when the Turkish leader tried to get in to see the historic Palestinian application speech.
One UN guard was taken to hospital, UN sources said on Monday. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed there had been ‘unfortunate misunderstandings’ between UN security and guards for an unnamed country on Friday, but gave no other details.
Erdogan had been at a meeting on a level above the UN General Assembly hall when he heard Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was about to give his speech to back the historic application.
According to the Turtle Bay blog on events at the United Nations, Erdogan rushed to get into the meeting but his entourage was told they could not use the exit they were trying to get through.
‘The Turkish guards demanded that their president be allowed to pass and allegedly pushed the UN security guards. The UN guards pushed back and the Turks apparently began swinging,’ Turtle Bay said.
An official who saw the brawl told AFP UN security quickly called reinforcements and drew the curtains around the floor where the incident happened.
‘There were some unfortunate misunderstandings involving security between UN uniformed officials and security officials of member delegations,’ UN spokesman Nesirky told a press briefing.
‘We believe these have been satisfactorily resolved and that prompt action was taken. Necessary action was also taken to prevent such misunderstandings in the future,’ he said.
‘We are grateful for the understanding and forbearance by all concerned during this period of heightened security,’ he added. The Turkish UN mission declined to comment on the incident.
Same time regarding to World Bulletin news; Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was selected as the world’s most influential 11th name. Erdogan ranked the 11th in British New Statesman magazine’s list of the most influential 50 names of the world. The magazine wrote that Erdogan, who entered the list for the first time, was the only prime minister who won three consecutive elections in Turkey.
New Statesman also wrote that Erdogan was considered as the strongest leader ever after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, in Turkey. Erdogan was welcomed like a hero during his visits to Arab countries, wrote the magazine. The magazine also said that Turkish economy grew 8.9 percent in 2010 and became the fastest growing economy among OECD countries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on the top of the list, while U.S. President Barack Obama ranked the fifth in the list which is shaped according to the influence of the leaders in their country, region and the world. New Statesman has been published in London since 1913.
