Brawl Breaks Out at U.N. between Security Staff & Turkish diplomats

Submitted by Dan Schwartz (United States), Sep 27, 2011 at 16:02

Speaking of Turkey...

Brawl Breaks Out at U.N. between Security Staff & Turkish diplomats

While the UN General Assembly was working to promote peace, behind the scenes officials were trying to contain a violent scuffle between UN security staff and Turkish diplomats.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's security team members became aggressive after they were escorted to the wrong floor during Thursday's session, sources tell us. After being told they couldn't enter that area by UN security, they "pushed their way onto the floor, screaming, shoving and stomping on UN security," witnesses said, as the group tried to push in to hear the debate over Palestine.

A female UN security officer was elbowed in her chest and suffered several bruises while a high-ranking uniformed officer was left with bruised ribs. "They acted like thugs," said our source. "United Nations security isn't allowed to use force, and the Turkish staff had diplomatic immunity."

Another witness told us that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who made his first speech before the UN on Thursday, blasting Israel for "building new barriers to peace" -- was also present, and one of his guards "picked up a female UN security officer and threw her across the room, before UN security "jumped on" the Turkish guard.

UN officials put their officers involved on leave, pending an investigation. But union officials protested, and the guards were allowed to return while the probe continues. Part of the ugly scene was caught on video and can be seen here:

Martin Nesirky, spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said he had met with the Turkish prime minister to resolve the issue. He said at yesterday's briefing, "There were some unfortunate misunderstandings involving security between UN uniformed officials and security officials of member delegations ... these have been satisfactorily resolved." Staff members at the Turkish Consulate were not available for comment last night.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".