Israel, Armenia, both invited by the UN to attend the summit, will not send political delegations to the gathering.
Israel and Armenia, two countries that have problematic relations with Turkey, will not attend a UN summit of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Istanbul next week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Israel and Armenia, both invited by the UN to attend the summit, will not send political delegations to the gathering, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Selchuk Unal told a news conference. The two countries will, however, attend the summit, due to take place on May 9-13, only at the technical level, he added.
Relations between Turkey and Israel took a nosedive when Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish American on an aid ship that was trying to break a blockade of the Gaza Strip on May 31 of last year. Armenia has no diplomatic relations with Turkey and efforts to normalize ties suffered a setback when Turkey demanded progress in Armenia's Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.
About 50 countries are expected to attend the summit at the level of leaders. Seventy-five will send ministers while another 30 will send deputy ministers to the UN summit. The government has said invitations were sent to individual countries by the UN, not Turkey, which is only hosting the gathering.
Unal also responded to questions on the situation in Libya and Syria. “We expect a cease-fire to be declared as soon as possible,” Unal said of Libya. He was speaking a day after Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, had called for a cease-fire in Libya within seven days during a meeting of an international contact group on Libya in Rome.
On Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is facing growing protests, Unal said Turkey continues to encourage the Syrian authorities to institute economic and political reform.
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