Hero's welcome for Turkish PM after he denounces Israel's attack on Gaza

There are two words why Ignatius should have never been permitted to moderate a panel with the President of Israel and the Prime Minister of Turkey: Ignatius is an Armenian Jew.

Jewish control of Turkey?

Thousands of Turks gave their prime minister a hero's welcome as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos having denounced Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of "killing children on the beach" during a discussion on Thursday with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president. The Turkish leader then clashed with the panel's American moderator, who tried to cut him off.

As Mr Erdogan quoted the opinions of academics that Israel had become a "raider state", the chairman sought to silence him. Visibly infuriated by this interruption, the prime minister walked off the stage, saying: "I will not come to Davos again". As he left, Mr Erdogan received a congratulatory hug from a beaming Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, who was also on the panel.

Mr Erdogan's central complaint was that he received only 12 minutes to speak, compared with the 25 minutes allowed to Mr Peres. He stressed that this "unfairness" lay behind his decision to leave, not the argument with the Israeli leader.

Mr Peres had reminded the audience that Israel's attack on Gaza was preceded by years of rocket barrages against its southern cities launched by Palestinian fighters. Turning to the Turkish leader, Mr Peres asked: "How would you have reacted to 100 rockets a day landing on Istanbul? What would you have done?"

Mr Erdogan replied: "President Peres you are older than me and your voice is very loud. The reason for you raising your voice is the psychology of guilt. I will not raise my voice that much, you should know that. When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you hit and killed children on the beaches." More