Turkey to return to Davos with large team

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L) had accused Israel of ‘nowing well how to kill’ on belaf of Simon Peres (R), the president at the time, in 2009.

Three years after the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s famous “one minute” comment and subsequent departure from Davos, a delegation of Turkish ministers is preparing to attend this year’s World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, will attend at the personal invitation of the World Economic Forum’s founder and president, Klaus Schwab, who had previous apologized to Erdoğan for what happened at the 2009 summit.

The summit is scheduled to be held between Jan. 25 and 29. Although Erdoğan will not be attending, the delegation boasts a lineup of impressive ministers, such as Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin.

The delegation plans to use the Davos Forum as an opportunity to draw attention to the World Economic
Forum on Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia 2012, which will be held in Istanbul from June 4 to 6, according to daily Hürriyet.