Americas

Home page

Americas

Turkey To Sue Israel For Gaza Aid Victims

28 June 2010 21:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was planning to sue Israel on behalf of the victims, APA reports quoting turkishny.com web-page.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, "Turkey has not given up its dream of joining the European Union. It has not become ’anti-West’. It does not have any intention of cutting its longstanding relationship with Israel."

In an interview with the Toronto Star newspaper, Prime Minister Erdogan, who attended the G-20 Summit in Canadian city of Toronto, said, "the relations with Israel will remain strained until Israel fulfills four conditions: Israel should apologize for the May 31 commando raid on the Turkish ship that was part of the flotilla taking humanitarian aid to Gaza; it should pay compensation to the families of the 10 people killed in the raid, nine Turks and one Turkish-American; it should agree to an international probe, as called for by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon into the incident (as opposed to an Israeli inquiry); and it should lift its embargo on the Gaza Strip."

Reminded that Israel had already announced an easing of the embargo, Erdogan said, "we have heard those statements but no steps have been taken. Similar statements have been made in the past."

Israel last week said it "eased" its land blockade on the Gaza Strip in a move that has been seen little by rights group that condemned the humanitarian crisis in the besieged land. That move followed widespread outcry for a deadly raid on a blockade-busting group of ships, in which nine Turkish activists were brutally killed.

"State terror"

Anadolu news agency reported, Erdogan said that Turkey was planning to sue Israel on behalf of the victims.

Erdogan said the Gaza aid flotilla was organized by non-governmental organizations, was carrying volunteers from 33 nations, along with humanitarian aid food, medicine, toys, construction material.

"The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 72 miles out of the territorial waters of Israel. Unfortunately, guns and rifles and plastic bullets were used. We are familiar with the argument that Israel has a right to defend itself. Of course, you can protect your borders against armed people or against a military enemy, and you can consider such action in your own national borders. But you have no right to do that in international waters. I interpret this as state terror. He said some of the dead had been shot at close range, at point blank range, from the chest up, from behind the neck. If the intent was not to kill, the plastic bullets could have been fired at below the knee level, he said," he said.

Erdogan said the Turkish government had "done all" it could on "Mavi Marmara" within both domestic and international laws.

Erdogan said that Turkey would act based on documents and sincere information.

Our witnesses will be those that lived through Israel’s attack on May 31, Erdogan said.

We work only for peace. We are not interested in making a show. We do not desire a show and we are acting with patience, Erdogan said.

If our demands are met (by Israel), this could be a crucial step for a positive process, Erdogan also said.

"No cutting off ties"

"Thanks to very intense efforts by the Americans, the people who had been held in prison were delivered to us within 24 hours. So I am very grateful to President Obama for his intervention. If it hadn’t been for this very speedy response on the part of President Obama, things could have been more problematic," he said.

Erdogan cited United Nations and other reports that Gaza was a humanitarian disaster, and added that the aid promised at a donors’ conference was yet to be delivered.

Upon a question whether Turkey was becoming anti-Israeli, Erdogan said, "Not so. Actually, in the Middle East, Turkey is the only friendly country to Israel, so much so that during the (Ehud) Olmert government, Turkey helped Israel hold indirect talks with Syria. We held five rounds, the last one was in my official residence for six hours, with Olmert present. We had gotten down to writing words for some sort of an agreement. That meeting was on a Monday. And we had decided that we will come back on Friday to complete the work. That Friday meeting never took place, and on Saturday the Israeli bombing of Gaza began. As that Friday was approaching, the Israelis were not answering our calls must have been in preparation of the Gaza bombing. Earlier, whenever we had called, they’d always call back but this time they didn’t."

Replying to another question whether Turkey was turning away from the West, Erdogan said, "that would be a very wrong conclusion. Turkey is developing contacts all over the world. But Turkey has not cut off relations with anyone. Such a thing is not on the agenda."

Referring to the relations with the EU, Erdogan said, "Turkey has not given up its dream of joining the European Union. We continue with determination to walk on the European path."

"Bilateral talks"

Meanwhile, Erdogan held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Toronto, Canada.

Prime Minister Erdogan met with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev.

Turkey-Russia relations as well as recent global and regional developments were high on agenda of the meeting.

Prime Minister Erdogan also had a brief talk with U.S. President Barack Obama.