US state dept: "We don't want to see a repeat of the Davos incident"

Asked about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's testy exchange last week with Israeli President Simon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US State Department spokesperson Robert Woods said, "It was unfortunate. But it was a very good sign to see that President Peres and Prime Minister Erdogan had a subsequent conversation." He added, "They had some very sharp exchanges, and I believe that the prime minister walked out … and that type of thing, of course, is unfortunate. You don't want to see that happen. But again, as I said, they had a subsequent conversation, and we're very glad to see that because, you know, Turkey and Israel are important allies for the US. And they're key players in the region. And so it's important that we have good cooperative relationships amongst all of the various key players in the region, and that's how I would describe it." In related news, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani telephoned Erdogan to thank him for his actions. Larijani told Erdogan that with his "bold words" in Davos he became "the voice of the free conscience," adding that history would remember how he defended the Palestinians.