TURKEY: Interim Turkish report says Israeli commandos fired on passengers of Mavi Marmara aid ship before landing on board

Record ID: 395946

  • Title: TURKEY: Interim Turkish report says Israeli commandos fired on passengers of Mavi Marmara aid ship before landing on board
  • Date: 25th January 2011
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - DECEMBER 26, 2010) (REUTERS) MAVI MARMARA APPROACHING TO PORT IN ISTANBUL VARIOUS OF BLOODY SEATS INSIDE MAVI MARMARA
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAD7A3226L5LPJED9VL0CEVB9UV
  • Story Text: An interim Turkish report says Israel fired on passengers of the Mavi Marmara aid ship before landing on board, and maltreated survivors of the raid. Islamic Charity Organisation IHH says a new flotilla will set sail in June after general elections in Turkey.
    Turkey's inquiry into an Israeli raid on a Turkish aid ship destined for Gaza, on Monday (January 24) released its own report, a day after Israel's Turkel commission said the bloody seizure conformed with international laws.
    The Israeli inquiry cleared the government and military on Sunday (January 23) of wrongdoing in the bloody seizure of a Turkish aid ship that tried to breach the Gaza blockade, provoking an angry response from Ankara.
    Contradicting the Israeli report, the Turkish report said Israeli soldiers opened fire onto the activists before landing on the Mavi Marmara ship on May 31, 2010.
    "In this report we established that unfortunately the Israeli forces started firing at the passengers on the upper deck from the helicopters before landing on the upper deck. Probably the first two people who were killed, were killed as a result of the fire from the helicopter," Chairman of the Commission, Ambassador Mithat Rende said.
    Rende said the report also found evidence of maltreatment of passengers after Israeli forces seized the ship, which had been attempting to break the Gaza blockade.
    "We established in our report also that is as well documented, that the passengers, the survivors, who were carried to Ashdod for interrogation, they were maltreated. Some of them were, I understand, stripped naked, and a pregnant woman was denied access to toilets, she was in dire need."
    Nine Turks were shot dead in the ensuing violence. Turkey said its own panel's report on the incident, which it submitted to the U.N. inquiry in September, had found Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and its raid on the aid convoy had violated international laws.
    The Turkel commission accused the IHH, a Turkish Islamist charity that owned the Mavi Marmara, "of planned and extremely violent" resistance which was "directly connected to the ongoing international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas".
    The IHH said the charity was planning to send another flotilla after a June general election.
    "Europeans activists are preparing to sail on May 31. Our ships from Turkey will join this flotilla, including Mavi Marmara. The activists in Turkey will sail after general elections to meet their European colleagues. Since the vessels in European countries will set sail on May 31, we will be able to stay here until the general elections before they arrive to the port where we will meet them," Chairman of the agency, Bulent Yildirim said.
    One pro-Palestinian activist who was on board the ship, said the Israeli report was biased.
    "The report was prepared upon Israeli government's request. The world has witnessed that they boarded on the ship to kill us. Even the Israeli public would not find this report credible," Murat Akinan said.
    After the bloody raid, Turkey, a predominantly Muslim former ally of the Jewish state, has scaled back ties demanding Israel apologise and pay damages for the high-seas seizure, which caused an international outcry.
    Israel has broached compensation but refused to admit fault.
    In September, three investigators for the U.N. Human Rights Council declared the Mavi Marmara interception unlawful, saying it resulted in violations of international humanitarian law.
    Israel had boycotted that panel, calling it biased, but is cooperating with a separate investigation set up by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and still under way.
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