NEW YORK – An unidentified man on Friday tried to assault Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
Erdogan's bodyguards immediately stopped the man. Erdogan himself was not injured during the incident.
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Minister of Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, who witnessed the attack outside the General Assembly hall, described it as a "very violent incident. Like a scene out of a movie."
- Erdogan and Ban (Photo: AP)
The circumstances of the incident were still unclear, but some claim it may be connected to the internal conflict taking place between Turkey and the Kurdish rebels.
On Tuesday, seven people were killed in two terrorist attacks in Ankara and in a police academy in eastern Turkey. Both attacks were attributed to the Kurdish rebel group PKK.
The attempted assault took place as the Palestinian president announced his request for full membership in the United Nations.
- On Thursay, Erdogan addressed the General Assembly and urged the international community to "heal the bleeding wound that is the human tragedy suffered by the Palestinian people," and "show Israel that it is not above the law."
Attila Somfalvi contributed to this report