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Cairo 'Barely' Held Arafat's Ceremony
Zaman (Turkey)
11.13.2004
Cumali Onal
CAIRO -- Due to a lack of organization, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat's funeral ceremony ended as fiasco in Cairo yesterday.
A Finnish Representative, an Arab Foreign Minister and top levels of a
Turkish delegation including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) leader Deniz Baykal as well as Organization of Islamic Conference
(OCI) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Islamoglu had trouble entering the
tent set up for the ceremony. After a hustle, the dignitaries were
finally let in. Delegates from Germany, Malaysia and Armenia missed the
ceremony altogether due to heavy airport traffic.
Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, who was visiting Turkey, was also
included in the Turkish delegation to Cairo. The Palestinian Ambassador
to Ankara, Fuat Yasin, also missed the funeral ceremony. Yasin expressed
his sorrow saying, "This is a big scandal. This is such a bitter thing."
While Turkish top levels were lucky ones to gain entrance to the
ceremony, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher missed the ceremony, as
his plane was kept waiting in the air for an hour. Similarly, Armenian
delegation also missed the ceremony due to airport traffic.
The Finnish Representative, meanwhile, was not permitted to enter the
ceremony since he "did not have an identity tag".
When the Egyptian protocol, caught unprepared by the funeral, forgot
accreditiation, protocol officials of guest delegations and their chief
bodyguards were not let into the ceremony. World leaders in the
procession who had followed Arafat's casket for nearly 400 meters were
surprised when they were told, "the ceremony is over here." Some leaders
waited in the cars while others chatted in groups.
Zaman (Turkey)
11.13.2004
Cumali Onal
CAIRO -- Due to a lack of organization, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat's funeral ceremony ended as fiasco in Cairo yesterday.
A Finnish Representative, an Arab Foreign Minister and top levels of a
Turkish delegation including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) leader Deniz Baykal as well as Organization of Islamic Conference
(OCI) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Islamoglu had trouble entering the
tent set up for the ceremony. After a hustle, the dignitaries were
finally let in. Delegates from Germany, Malaysia and Armenia missed the
ceremony altogether due to heavy airport traffic.
Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, who was visiting Turkey, was also
included in the Turkish delegation to Cairo. The Palestinian Ambassador
to Ankara, Fuat Yasin, also missed the funeral ceremony. Yasin expressed
his sorrow saying, "This is a big scandal. This is such a bitter thing."
While Turkish top levels were lucky ones to gain entrance to the
ceremony, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher missed the ceremony, as
his plane was kept waiting in the air for an hour. Similarly, Armenian
delegation also missed the ceremony due to airport traffic.
The Finnish Representative, meanwhile, was not permitted to enter the
ceremony since he "did not have an identity tag".
When the Egyptian protocol, caught unprepared by the funeral, forgot
accreditiation, protocol officials of guest delegations and their chief
bodyguards were not let into the ceremony. World leaders in the
procession who had followed Arafat's casket for nearly 400 meters were
surprised when they were told, "the ceremony is over here." Some leaders
waited in the cars while others chatted in groups.