"Huge"
Turkish
Delegation
Felt Erdogan
Was Pushed,
Previous
Run-Ins
Alleged
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 26
-- As
questions
mount about UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon having
apologized so
quickly to
Turkish Prime
Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan
even as UN
security
officials were
hospitalized
following a
run in with
Erdogan's
delegation on
Friday,
another
perspective
emerged on
Monday
afternoon.
Picking up on
a
line in Inner
City Press' exclusive
story, why lay
hands on a
prime
minister,
a source said
that Erdogan
and his large
delegation
were
led the wrong
way in the run
up to Mahmoud
Abbas' speech
on Friday.
Coming
from a
bilateral
meeting on the
4th floor
balcony of the
General
Assembly, the
wrong path to
the speech was
shown to them.
Already the GA
Hall was full,
and Erdogan's
delegation
included not
only the
security
personnel, but
also five
ministers and
a deputy prime
minister.
The Turks were
given extra
passes to the
UN, but some
say
other
delegations
were as well.
In any event,
the large
delegation,
having been
led the wrong
way, was
stopped -- and
Prime Minister
Erdogan was
jostled.
This
triggered
the
melee that
left UN
Security
Office Matthew
Sullivan with
injured
ribs, and a
female
Caribbean UN
officer with
facial
injuries. The
Turks also
suffered
injuries or
impacts but,
tough guys to
the end,
did not seek
hospitalization.
In this
account,
Ban Ki-moon
apologized
between 2 and
3 pm on Friday
-- so soon
after
the incident
that no
investigation
would have
been possible.
As UN
Security
officers see
it, Ban
Ki-moon "threw
them under the
bus," and
didn't defend
them.
"It's like
Algeria," a UN
Security
official,
referring to
the UN staff
killed by a
bombing in
Algeria. "He
does nothing
for us - it's
all about
him."
The source
confirming the
apology and
its timing
told Inner
City Press
that the
run by Ban's
chief of staff
Vijay Nambiar
and Security
chief Gregory
Starr across
First Avenue
at 2:20 pm on
Friday was to
meet Ban at
the
Turkish
Mission for
the apology.
Another Under
Secretary
General,
Lynn Pascoe,
is said to
have
apologized to
Erdogan in the
Indonesian
Lounge next to
the GA Hall.
Erdogan &
Ban,
previously,
jostling &
fast apology
not shown
While
understanding
to some degree
not only the
UN Security
side, but also
the Turkish
side if
Erdogan was
pushed, what
remains
incomprehensible
if not
reprehensible
to some is Ban
Ki-moon so
quickly
casting the
blame on
the people who
work for the
UN.
At 2:30 on
Friday
it was
impossible to
know the
specifics of
how the UN
Security
officials got
injured.
Furthermore,
UN Security
sources now
say that
Erdogan's
delegation had
another run-in
with
authorities.
They
point
to a previous
run in at the
46th Street
entrance,
false passes
to the
UN garage,
even the
beating of a
journalist by
security at a
previous
Turkish
sponsored
conference. So
what did Ban
Ki-moon know
and when
did he know
it? Watch this
site.
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