Turkish minister walks out of Israeli counterpart's UN speech in protest

Türkiye's family and social services minister walked out of a speech by her Israeli counterpart at a UN meeting Thursday in protest against Israel.

Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş left the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at UN headquarters in New York while Israeli Minister May Golan was taking the floor to address the meeting.

Besides Göktaş, some other country representatives were also seen leaving the hall in protest.

Türkiye has long condemned Israel for its war on Gaza, where nearly 72,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.

The CSW70, held on March 9-19, is the UN's largest annual gathering dedicated to gender equality and women's rights.

This year's priority theme, "Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls," focuses on the barriers women face in legal systems and explores measures to address legal inequality and close the justice gap globally.