How world leaders use diplomatic walkouts as silent protest

A casual observer, seeing the representatives of Turkiye, Iran and several other countries simultaneously filing out of the hall during the recent Baku summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), could well have concluded that hot coffee had just arrived outside. Plenary sessions of multilateral meetings are notoriously soporific and the promise of a caffeine shot brings instant alacrity to dozing or doodling delegates. But this was not our typical coffee rush: more than 10 countries staged a walkout during the speech of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to protest Israel’s policies. Prime Minister Benjamin…