Israeli Attack on Mavi Marmara aidship: Turkish court holds Israelis Guilty of massacre of Turks
DR. ABDUL RUFF
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[Former Israeli army chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the former naval commander, the former chief of military intelligence and a former senior air force official have been indicted by a Turkish court for their actions in the 2010 “Gaza Flotilla.” Israeli naval commandos overtook the Mavi Marmara, which was flying the Turkish flag when it tried to pierce Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. While Israel claims professional provocateurs planning to foment violence were on board, Turkish officials insist the nine men who died in the skirmish with the commandos were merely passengers protesting Israel’s policies toward Gaza’s Palestinians. An Israeli commission that investigated the incident determined that the Israeli military “acted in accordance with international law.” Legal experts have expressed doubt that the indictments amount to more than a public declaration against Israel]
A Turkish court has charged four senior Israeli military commanders over the killing of nine Turkish activists who went as part of aidship the Mavi Marmara trying to reach Gaza in 2010. The Mavi Marmara was intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters as it sailed towards Gaza's coast on 31 May 2010. The nine pro-Palestinian activists from Turkey were killed after Israeli troops boarded their ship, the Mavi Marmara. They had been hoping to breach Israel's naval blockade and deliver aid to Gaza.
Ex-military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and former heads of military intelligence, the navy and air force are expected to be tried in absentia. A Turkish prosecutor at the court in Istanbul has called for each of the four Israeli officers to face nine life sentences. The other three commanders are ex-naval chief Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom, former head of military intelligence Major General Amos Yadlin, and former head of the air force Brigadier General Avishai Lev.
For decades Turkey had been under the devilish spell of Israel with plenty of military deals in Israeli terror goods for Turkey. But the Israeli attack has led to a major rift in relations between Turkey and Israel. Turkey's decision in September 2011 to order Israeli Ambassador Gaby Levi to leave Ankara in a week's time is a blunt statement of how far relations between the two countries have fallen over the past three years. This formal break with Israel would have come a lot sooner, but for pressure from the United States. President Obama has urged both countries - each of them important US allies in the region - to find a compromise.
A UN inquiry found that Israel's blockade of Gaza was "a legitimate security measure". Israel carried out its own fake investigation but has not prosecuted anyone involved in the raid. It said Israeli troops had faced "significant, organized and violent resistance" when they boarded the ship. But it said Israel's decision to board the ship and the use of substantial force was "excessive and unreasonable".
If they are convicted, the Turkish court could issue a warrant for their arrest. The Turkish reaction to the publication of the UN inquiry merely formalises the freeze in their relations. Turkey had already withdrawn its ambassador to Tel Aviv right after the flotilla incident, and suspended military co-operation, which had in any case been greatly cut back.
Ankara quickly halted military co-operation with Israel, ending joint military exercise with Israel. Turkey is demanding an apology for the incident and compensation for the victims' families. There have been efforts from the “affected sections” to get the Zionist-Turkish relations renewed somehow and reap benefits from the joint arms operations. It was being rumored that Turkey’s president Abdullah and fascist Israeli President Shimon Peres would take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly conclave in New York. But Gul rejected all such moves and said he will not meet his Israeli counterpart on the sidelines of the United Nations' in New York, saying he would not meet Peres due to his busy schedule. Gul would meet Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad for talks focusing on the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear program as Turkey continues efforts to facilitate talks between Iran and the West.
As a first step for any further move, Turkey has demanded that the Jewish state lift its crippling terror blockade on the Gaza Strip in order to mend ties. Gul underlined that Ankara still expected Israel to apologize for the deadly raid and pay compensation, adding that an apology on its own would not suffice. "An apology by Israel will not mean that all is forgotten, all is over, and that we should bury the dead and take care of the living," Gul said.
Given the immense public anger in Turkey over the deaths of nine activists during clashes with Israeli troops aboard the flotilla, the government could hardly have asked for less than an Israeli apology. When that was refused, a strong gesture of disapproval by Turkey was inevitable.
Hawkish Israeli Deputy Foreign terror Minister Danny Ayalon insisted his country had nothing to apologize for and had done all it could to avoid a crisis with Turkey. Hardliners within the governing coalition in Israel, especially the illegal settler leaders, opposed any statement that sounded like an apology. And the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kept up a torrent of criticism of Israel. His constituency is a conservative, Muslim one which is strongly sympathetic to the Palestinians, and hostile to Israel, so talking tough goes down well with his supporters; a compromise would have been a harder sell, and probably distasteful to a politician who gets visibly angry about Israeli policies.
Senior diplomats have been exploring a form of words which could sound like an apology to Turkey, but be presented as something less than an apology to Israel. The publication of the UN inquiry was delayed three times to allow the talks to progress, and as recently as last month they seemed close to a deal. The USA wants to use Turkey on a permanent basis and has said it hopes Turkey and Israel "will continue to look for opportunities to improve their longstanding relationship".
Turkey has said it will challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is the latest sign of strain between the countries since last year's Israeli action against ships heading for Gaza, in which nine Turks were killed. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey did not accept the findings of a UN report which said Israel's blockade of Gaza was a legal security measure. His comments came a day after Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador. Based in The Hague, the ICJ is a permanent UN court set up to rule on state-to-state disputes.
Some Observations
Turning pro-Palestine in recent times, Turkey is an important European power. Turkey's economic success and dynamic politics were the envy of the Muslim world; Erdogan's readiness to scold Israel made Erdogan a hero on the Arab street. Obviously, Turkey has reversed decades of frosty relations with its immediate neighbors, building new commercial and political ties with the governments in Iran, Iraq and Syria. Turkey's improving ties with Iran, coupled by the crisis with Israel, have sparked concern that Turkey, a NATO member vying for membership of the EU, and is drifting away from the West.
Israel survives in Mideast as a fascist monster on exclusively western feeding. Israel claims to have nukes secretly and illegally obtained from USA and UK and IAEA has not knowledge about it.
World condemned the Zionist terror operations for years in Palestine, killing thousands of defenseless Palestinians, including children and women. Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza holocaust murdering thousands of innocent Palestinians shocked the Turkish people and they demanded to scrap the “historic” ties with fascist Israel. Anti-Islamic criminals cannot be friends of Muslims any where. However, the bogus Muslims in Arab world consider Americans and Britishers and their terror allies as their trusted books.
The bilateral ties between Turkey and Israel, once strategic allies, sharing military wares, technologies, secrecies and intelligence, were severely hurt following fascist Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza terror offensive. They suffered another heavy blow after Israeli commandos in May stormed Gaza-bound aid ships, killing nine Turkish activists. The Turkish international flotilla was trying to bust the blockade of Gaza. Nine people, including eight Turks and a Turkish-American, died during the terror raid.
Turkey is moving fast toward Islamization of former Ottoman society. West is almost entirely anti-Islamic by both outlook and practices. Both USA and Israel are aware of Turkey’s clout in Islamic world and therefore use diplomatic pressure to keep the immoral ties between Israel and Turkey in tact. When their friendship started to sour, it was not just the US that pushed for a rapprochement. The government in Syria, one of Israel's most implacable foes, also urged Turkey to mend fences with Israel.
In spite of all fascist operations in Palestine, Israel is still confident, for reasons of joint terror techniques, that USA and UK would never attack Israel, their illegitimate fascist child in Mideast. USA-UK has used Turkey to contribute troops to kill Afghans. As a member of the notorious NATO, Istanbul expected USA or UK or Japan to initiate follow up punitive action to cripple the Israeli terror blockade of Gaza strip, but that has not happened till day. NATO terror syndicate has shown, time and again, that it has no obligation toward global community for world peace, but it only wants to unilaterally attack their “perceived” opponents. This explains why these state terror organization is busy killing Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Notes
The Turkish-Israeli axis was, even to other Arab countries. It is badly damaged and probably beyond repair. Ending military co-operation, however, means the Turkish armed forces will have to look elsewhere for equipment, maybe for better goods. In the past it signed substantial contracts with Israeli companies to upgrade its US-made planes and tanks. It also means Israeli forces can no longer exercise in Turkey. But that co-operation too has been declining for some years. Turkey would become a totally independent Muslim and to promote Islamic values and protect the Palestinians.
US observers say that under tremendous pressure from Washington, Turkey has not severed relations altogether, and in time they could yet be revived. There will be pressure to “go slow” because of the turmoil in the rest of the Middle East. Trade between Turkey and Israel, however, is doing surprisingly well - up 26% in the first half of this year.
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د. عبد راف
Dr. Abdul Ruff, Specialist on State Terrorism; Educationalist;Chancellor-
