Several delegations withdrew from the hall at the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku on Oct. 15, the moment Israeli President Isaac Herzog began his address.
Leading the walkout was Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his delegation, while Anadolu Agency reported that representatives of more than 10 countries left the hall. International media said the delegations of Kuwait, Palestine, Iran and Pakistan were among them.
Türkiye’s stance on Gaza
The walkout comes amid Türkiye’s continued criticism of Israel over the war in Gaza. Before the summit, Fidan was reported to be planning to call for greater pressure on Israel.
Herzog, who spoke at an expanded session that included representatives of countries without diplomatic ties to Israel, praised Azerbaijan as "a very tolerant country" and said "isolation is an illusion" in the 21st century.
Fidan is representing Türkiye at the summit on behalf of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In his address to the summit, Fidan said a lasting solution to the Palestinian issue requires the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Noting that Israel, although a member of the conference, pursues a systematic policy that violates the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, he called for support for Palestinian rights and a firm stance against the ongoing violations. Among four priorities he set out for CICA, Fidan listed the development of the Middle Corridor and support for the Development Road Project, which will connect the Gulf to Europe via Iraq and Türkiye.
