Sunday February 1, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

Remember the spat between Turkey and Israel at the World Economic Forum in Davos?
Here's the follow up: Israeli President Peres phoned Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to apologize.

Peres: These things can happen between friends.

Erdogan: Firstly, of course. There is no doubt that such arguments can happen between friends. But nobody can even speak to a tribe leader so loudly and in front of the international community, and not to the leader of the Republic of Turkey.

Peres: I raised my voice. In fact my friends tell me that I have a quite voice. This has nothing to do with my relationship with the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey. I am very sorry for what happened today.

Erdogan: I heard that you are going to hold a press conference.

Peres: Not today, but tomorrow.

Erdogan: If you express these sincere feelings, which I believe you will, in tomorrow's press conference, I assume this problem will be mostly overcome.

Peres: Of course I will publicly express these remarks.

In conclusion: Paying attention to what Erdogan said, we hear that the problem will be mostly overcome if Peres apologizes publicly.
That means the problem has not yet been overcome and will not even be completely overcome after a public apology.

Erdogan stressed that nobody can even speak to a tribal leader the way Peres spoke to him. A massive personal injury was done here. Unfortunately, while the insult is real the foundation for the argument is false.

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