Scuffle at the United Nations Ends in an Apology to Turks
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: September 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/world ... middleeastResurgent Turkey has become a Middle East story to watch, and just how perilous standing in its way can be became abundantly clear to a few somewhat hapless United Nations security guards during the annual General Assembly meeting of world leaders.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was apparently pushed by a United Nations guard while demanding to enter the General Assembly hall through the wrong entrance on Friday, according to diplomats and United Nations officials. An ensuing melee sent one guard to the hospital and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon scurrying over to the Turkish mission to apologize, they said.
Details of the incident remain murky, despite Mr. Ban’s often declared commitment to “transparency.” The United Nations’ spokesman, Martin Nesirky, refused to clarify what happened beyond saying the “unfortunate misunderstanding” had been “satisfactorily resolved.” The Turks made no official comment.
But some particulars have emerged from diplomats and at least one United Nations official who overheard the altercation.
Mr. Erdogan was having a tête-à-tête with President Jalal Talabani of Iraq on the obscure fourth floor of the General Assembly hall — tiny meeting spaces have been tucked into every nook and cranny because the Secretariat Building is gutted for renovations.
Learning that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, was making his address demanding full United Nations membership for a state of Palestine, Mr. Erdogan, a big fan, rushed to the nearest entrance to take Turkey’s seat on the main floor.
But the fourth floor is actually the visitors’ gallery, with no access to the main floor, and it was packed. So a United Nations security guard refused to let the Turkish leader pass. When Mr. Erdogan pressed forward, the guard pushed him (by most accounts), and then a fracas erupted that was audible four flours below.
One United Nations guard was taken to the hospital with a rib injury, and there were reports of bloodstains on the floor, although that could not be confirmed.
Eventually, after senior United Nations officials rushed over to calm the situation, Mr. Erdogan was directed to the proper entrance.
But by then the gauntlet had been thrown down, and minor scuffles erupted wherever he went with his entourage around the United Nations. (There had apparently been some grousing already about the number of black limousines in the prime minister’s entourage.)
Mr. Erdogan demanded an apology. Mr. Ban hurried over to the mission to deliver one, and for good measure was said to have suspended around half a dozen security guards.
What was clear, as one Western diplomat put it, was that “The Turks were literally throwing their weight around.”
