Turkey compiles list of 174 Israelis, topped by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who were directly or indirectly involved in 2010 raid on Gaza-bound ship. Intelligence officials used social networks to track down participants, Sabah newspaper reports
Turkish intelligence officials have submitted to the state prosecution a list of 174 Israelis, mostly soldiers, who were involved in the 2010 raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship, the Turkish newspaper Sabah reported Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tops the list as the “primary responsible party.”
According to the report, the Israelis were identified from photographs and various media sources.
“Almost all of the Israeli soldiers who killed nine Turkish citizens and injured 30 others have been identified,” the report claimed.
It was stated that Israel’s government has not responded to the Turkish Justice Ministry’s demand to release a list of the individuals who took part in the operation, prompting the intelligence officials to pour over records of the raid. Facebook and Twitter were used later in the hunt for information.
The fact-finding team examined the names of the commandos ofShayetet 13 – the Navy unit that took over the Gaza-bound vessel – and matched them up with the numerous photos used in the media.
Furthermore, the officials reviewed correspondence written by soldiers whom they believed took part in the raid in order to confirm their participation. Names submitted by the IHHmovement, which organized the flotilla, were used in the search as well.
Lieberman, Barak also on list
According to the report, the Turkish prosecution intends to request the Israeli authorities to verify whether the people on the list, which includes 140 photos of 174 Israelis who directly or indirectly participated in the raid, were indeed ivolved.
Officials who allegedly contributed to the decision and issued the order to stop the Mavi Marmara, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, made it to the top of the list as well.
“All of the Israeli Cabinet ministers were responsible for the order,” the report read.
The list also includes former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former Israel Navy Commander Eliezer Marom, former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin and a variety of other high- and low-ranking officers. Moreover, it includes 10 photographs of soldiers who are yet to be identified.
Israel should have apologized to Turkey for its deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship, but instead allowed relations to deteriorate, according to United Kingdom’s former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
“Israel could – and should – have apologized in a full-hearted manner, but in a way that neither humiliated nor embarrassed them. Once the apology had been issued, and accepted by Turkey, both countries would have had a platform for the restoration of normal relations,” Straw wrote in a commentary for the Hürriyet Daily News.
“Instead, relations have deteriorated, from tepid, then to cold, and now to freezing… Israel has only itself to blame,” he wrote. Comparing the situation today to the sympathy for Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, Straw said Israel has become isolated due to “its arrogance; its cavalier approach to international norms; and the inability of its leaders to act in a statesmanlike, strategic way.”
Click here to read the full commentary by United Kingdom’s former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Pro-Palestinian activists hold down an Israeli commando on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship “Mavi Marmara.” Nine Turkish nationals were killed when Israeli forces boarded the ship in international waters in 2010.
September 15, 2011
By Michael Weiss
How does Turkey’s ruling Islamist party react when it gets a report it doesn’t like from the United Nations?
By yanking diplomats, threatening military conflict with a neighbor, and menacingly eyeing that neighbor’s new yield of natural resources.
If the General Assembly ever does something really provocative and votes on a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide or the right of Kurdish self-determination, you can bet that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make the prison guard in “Midnight Express” look like Florence Nightingale.
Reacting to the leaked UN Palmer Report on the 2010 flotilla fiasco, which found that Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal and that the passengers aboard the “Mavi Marmara” were cruising for a bruising, Erdogan’s government has taken to issuing thuggish pronunciamentos.
At issue is the fact that Israel refused to apologize to Turkey for killing nine Turkish nationals in the Mediterranean.
Israel reckons that to do so would be an insult to the commandos who abseiled onto the “Mavi Marmara” only to be bludgeoned, stabbed, and shot.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has tried to have it both ways on the flotilla. It banned its own members from participating in order to distance itself from what was obviously a blockade-running provocation.
Yet ranking AKP members are on the board of IHH, the Turkish “charity” that organized the event.
Anatolian Chest-Poundings
And Erdogan’s refusal to let the 2011 flotilla start out from Istanbul — at the urging of Washington — complicates the government’s claims of having no control over a supposedly independent NGO. Needless to say, bilateral relations with Israel have gone from lousy to dire.
“The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against civilian vessels,” one Turkish official said, promising a military escort for all future “aid” ships to Gaza — assuming, that is, that these ships can outfox the savvy Israeli lawyers who made the sequel set-sail a busted flush.
From the sound of it, Turkey now wants to become the chief maritime bully. Part and parcel with its “more aggressive strategy” in the eastern Mediterranean is its attempt to stop Israel from mining its huge natural gas and oil fields, recent discoveries which some experts predict will make the Jewish state one of the largest — and wealthiest — energy exporters in the world.
The threat by a NATO member to skirmish on the high seas with a major U.S. ally follows other Anatolian chest-poundings.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoganyrian (left) had done “happy business” in the past with Syrian President Bashar Assad
Earlier in the week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose foreign policy vision used to be known as “no problems with the neighbors,” announced that Ankara would be expelling all Israeli Embassy officials above the rank of second secretary.
Erdogan wants to visit Gaza in the coming days to increase “international attention” on Israel’s siege of the strip.
This from the man who previously said that he doesn’t think Hamas is a terrorist group.
Erdogan’s visit is sure to impress upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which party the AKP would like see ruling the Palestinian state the UN is about to recognize.
A Dirty Little Secret
Finally, Erdogan vowed to suspend all military relations and defense industry trade between Turkey and Israel.
Years ago, this might have been significant. Yet here’s a dirty little secret: Greece, which diplomatically facilitated the second flotilla’s deep-sixing, is fast replacing Turkey as Israel’s favorite regional military partner.
Not only is flight distance between Israel and Greece the same as that between Israel and Iran, but the Hellenes have got S-300 antiaircraft missiles that the mullahs have been itching to buy from Russia in order to deter an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Joint Israeli-Greek military exercises are therefore seen as very valuable at the moment.
The Israelis and Palestinians have had their share of Turkish strong-arming, but so have the Syrians.
Indeed, the reason that a Syrian National Council was hastily announced on Al-Jazeera late last month, following weeks of oppositionist wrangling and backbiting at a conference in Istanbul, is that a faction of Syrian youth activists had grown tired of seeing the AKP trying to make their revolution a Muslim Brotherhood-led affair. (What better way to minimize the Islamists than to appoint a secular French sociologist chairman of a transitional body, as the Syrian National Council voted last month?)
Erdogan did happy business with Bashar al-Assad while he could, but he now wants to make sure that any post-Assad state consists of loyal Sunni ideologues.
That’d be one way to undercut Iran’s influence in the Middle East, and never mind that the people bleeding and dying in Syria are mostly apolitical kids who don’t trust neo-Ottoman power brokers any more than they do former regime apologists.
Turkish intelligence and the Muslim Brotherhood are also trying to co-opt the Syrian Free Army of rebel soldiers, according to Syrian sources.
“They are the only ones connected to them,” one opposition activist told me recently. “I’d rather the Syrian Free Army connect to the CIA. Tell your NATO friends that I extend them an open invitation to Syria.”
Michael Weiss is the communications director of The Henry Jackson Society, a foreign policy think tank based in London. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL
Istanbul – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Saturday vowed to carry his country’s spat with Israel over last year’s killing of Turkish nationals aboard Gaza flotilla ship the Mavi Marmara to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Speaking a convention of businessmen in the central Turkish city of Kayseri broadcast live on Turkey’s state news channel TRT Erdogan vowed to continue the legal struggle for justice for the nine people killed on the ship.
‘We will carry this struggle to the Hague and the world will again see who is standing alongside the victims,’ he said, criticising Turkish opposition leaders for what he described as ‘acting as advocates for Israel’.
Erdogan was also deeply critical of the United States position on the Mavi Marmara incident, relating how he had to point out to US President Barack Obama how the attack had left nine Turks dead from wounds inflicted by 35 bullets mostly fired from close range, one of them an American passport holder.
‘I asked President Obama whether the reason he showed no interest in one of his nationals being killed was because (the victim) was (ethnically) Turkish – he didn’t reply,’ said Erdogan.
However, despite that rhetoric, Erdogan made no repeat mention of his remarks from an interview Thursday with Al Jazeera in which he warned that Turkey could send warships to protect future aid convoys sent to break the Israeli blockade against Gaza.
Turkey’s state Anatolian News Agency quoted Erdogan as telling Al Jazeera that ‘Turkish vessels are obliged to protect their own ships. We are going to send humanitarian aid to the region. And Turkish vessels carrying humanitarian aid will never be subject to any attack again.’
‘Turkey does not make the same mistakes with Israel in the international waters. Turkey’s state and military decency do not allow such mistakes.’
Those remarks, the first time that a Turkish official has warned of possible military intervention in the year long spat with Israel, caused international concern when aired late Thursday prompting warnings from both Israel and the US of the possible consequences of escalating tensions between the two former allies.
via Turkey to take legal battle for Gaza flotilla dead to The Hague – Monsters and Critics.
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister said Monday that Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year was “cause for war” but added that his country showed “patience” and refrained from taking any action.
September 8: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks before a ceremony outside his office in Ankara, Turkey. Erdogan said on the eve of a visit to Egypt that Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year was "cause for war" but that his country had shown "patience" and refrained from taking any action. Read more:
Erdogan made the comments before departing for a visit to Egypt later on Monday, where he will seek to boost his government’s already high standing in the Arab world — a position he has achieved in part by challenging Israel on the world stage.
Erdogan, intent on broadening Turkey’s influence in the Middle East and the Arab world, will also visit Tunisia and Libya, two other countries where popular uprisings have ousted autocratic leaders.
Erdogan told Al-Jazeera television in a recent interview that the Israeli raid, which killed eight Turks and a Turkish American on board a Turkish ship trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, occurred in international waters and was “unlawful.” His comments were carried by Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency late Sunday.
“It is a cause for war, but we decided to act in line with Turkey’s grandeur and showed patience,” Erdogan said.
An Israeli government spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but Israel insists its naval commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked by some of the activists.
Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives aboard the flotilla and said Tuesday it was time for the two countries to restore their former close ties.
An Israeli Cabinet minister, Gilad Erdan, insisted that the deterioration of relations with Turkey was not Israel’s fault.
“With Turkey, we had a very close relationship in the past, and we still hope that we can improve the relationship with Turkey, but it wasn’t our decision to deteriorate the relationship,” Erdan said in Jerusalem, adding that Israel was prepared to “pay money to the families” of the victims.
A U.N. report into the raid, released earlier this month, said Israel’s naval blockade was legitimate but accused Israel of using “excessive and unreasonable” force in the raid.
Turkey has been angered over Israel’s refusal to apologize for the raid.
In response, Turkey this month suspended its military ties with Israel, expelled top Israeli diplomats, pledged to campaign in support of the Palestinians’ statehood bid and vowed to send the Turkish navy to escort Gaza-bound aid ships in the future.
Israel insists there is no need for aid to Gaza since it eased restrictions on imports through land crossings, labeling the flotillas political provocations.
Erdogan’s visit to Egypt coincides with increasingly troubled ties between Cairo and Israel following an attack on the Israeli embassy there. Israel fears that it is being left increasingly isolated by the Arab Spring, which is changing the power dynamics in the region, alongside tense relations former ally Turkey.
Erdogan “will try to impress (the Arab) public opinion by giving messages clearly emphasizing Turkey’s rift with Israel,” said Mustafa Turkes of the Middle East Technical University’s International Relations Department.
Kamer Kasim of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization said: “The Israeli-Egyptian relations are undergoing change. Israel cannot afford tensions with both Turkey and Egypt. It will have to review its security policies in the Middle East.”
Erdan said “it is very, very important” for Israel and for the Egyptians to preserve their peace treaty.
“We hope those radical movements that controlled the protests that we saw last weekend do not represent the 85 million Egyptians in Egypt,” Erdan said.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said Turkey would emphasize its support to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya in their transition to democracy.
In Egypt, Erdogan will oversee the signing of an agreement to establish a joint council to lead efforts toward a closer “strategic partnership,” as well as deals to encourage cooperation, investments and trade, a statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office said.
“Our hope now is that the Arab Spring does not turn into a harsh winter,” Erdogan told Al-Jazeera, according to Anatolia. “These countries are trying to transform into democratic system from autocratic systems. We have to lend them a helping hand in their efforts.”
Erdogan had hoped to be able to cross into Gaza from Egypt, but government officials said Sunday his scheduled would be limited to the three countries.
“Right now, there is no question of my visiting Gaza,” Erdogan told a news conference before flying to Cairo on Monday night. “But I would like to clearly say that I am longing to visit Gaza. I am longing to visit to Gaza as soon as possible.” He did not elaborate.
“I know that my brothers in Gaza are waiting for me. I too long for Gaza,” Erdogan told Al-Jazeera. “Sooner or later, if God allows it, I will go to Gaza.
Erdogan travels to Tunisia on Wednesday and to Libya on Thursday.
Turkey is also eager to resume investments in Libya, where Turkish contractors were involved in 214 building projects worth more than $15 billion before the rebellion that ousted strongman Muammar Qaddafi. Bilateral trade with Libya was $2.4 billion in Turkey’s favor before the uprising.
via Turkey Says Israel’s Flotilla Raid Was ‘Cause For War’ | Fox News.
Turkey has announced various measures, in an effort to punish Israel for its failure to meet its demands for the Mavi Marmara incident last year, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers. Ankara’s decision came on the eve of the announcement of the Palmer Commission’s report on the incident, established by the United Nations to investigate the competing claims by the parties. Previously, the announcement of the report was postponed for several months in the hope that it could be fine-tuned to live up to both sides’ expectations, and a diplomatic solution could be orchestrated to dampen tensions. While the report was finally due to be officially announced on Friday, it was leaked to the US press, which sparked Ankara’s reaction.
Though Turkey’s move appeared sudden, it has been in the works for some time. Since the Mavi Marmara incident, on the one hand, the Turkish government has made an apology an essential condition for normalizing relations with Israel, and, on the other hand, it questioned the legality of the Gaza blockade. Israel’s refusal to compromise on both points has gradually deteriorated Turkish-Israeli relations, raising concerns in Washington over the implications of the rift between the two key US allies. Meanwhile, its inability to persuade Israel to change position has put the Turkish government in a difficult position domestically, as nationalist forces have criticized it for failing to protect the nation’s interests and prestige.
Though severing bilateral ties through the initiation of some low-key measures, Turkey’s strategy was based on the internationalization of the issue to the extent possible to make Israel accountable before the international community. The initial statement from the UN Security Council and the Goldstone Report on the Gaza conflict released in September 2009 were in line with Turkey’s position. Turkey, thus, invested high hopes on the Palmer Commission’s inquiry, expecting that a decision favoring its position will result in confirmation of the nonconformity of the Gaza embargo with international law, and further generate worldwide pressure on Israel, forcing it to accommodate Turkey’s demand for apology.
While waiting for the conclusion of the Palmer Commission’s work, the Turkish government considered more forceful measures against Israel, since the indications were such that the report might fail to live up to Ankara’s expectations (EDM, May 19). Moreover, although attempts were underway to find a negotiated solution –four secret talks in six sessions were held- and there was even speculation that the Israeli government was considering an apology, this process did not seem promising, either. Days before the submission of the Palmer report to the UN Secretary-General last month, Tel Aviv made it clear to Washington that it would not issue an apology, to which Ankara responded by saying that Turkey would go ahead with forceful measures, should Israel fail to apologize, pay compensation to the victims, and end the blockade (Radikal, August 17).
As a head-on collision became imminent, Washington was reportedly seeking ways to avert a total collapse of the Turkish-Israeli relationship. Having managed to reestablish a collegial working relationship with Washington in the context of the Arab Spring, Ankara was keen to give a chance to Washington’s efforts. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly agreed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s last-ditch offer to postpone the report until the end of September during their face-to-face meeting in Paris. However, the leak of the report to the US media a few hours later angered Turkish leaders, who interpreted this development as the work of the Israeli lobby, seeking to undermine any prospects of a compromise deal including some form of apology (www.ntvmsnbc.com, September 3).
The tipping point was naturally the content of the report, as it was in disagreement with the Turkish theses. While the report described the Israeli use of force as excessive and unreasonable, it also found Turkey and the organizers of the flotilla partly responsible for what happened aboard the Mavi Marmara. Making no mention of an apology, the report asked Israel to make only “an appropriate statement of regret … in respect of the incident in light of its consequences,” and pay “a sufficient amount” to the injured and the victims’ families. The report also found Israel’s blockade to be a legitimate security measure.
Turkish leaders denounced the report, maintaining that it would not be a binding UN document, and for Turkey it was non-existent (www.tccb.gov.tr, September 3). Davutoglu outlined a five-point strategy, which Turkey hopes will make Israel pay for the incident. First, diplomatic ties with Israel will be downgraded to a second-secretary level. Second, all military agreements with Israel will be suspended. Third, Turkey will take all measures deemed necessary to ensure the safety of maritime navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fourth, renouncing Israel’s right to the Gaza blockade, Turkey will work to mobilize the UN General Assembly to bring this issue before the International Court of Justice. Fifth, Turkey will support legal action against Israel to be undertaken by the families of Mavi Marmara victims (Anadolu Ajansi, September 2). The Israeli side welcomed the report and insisted that they would not apologize and continue to enforce the blockade, signaling their readiness to face the consequences of Turkey’s precautions and confront Ankara where necessary (www.ntvmsnbc.com, September 4).
As Turkey seeks not only retribution for the Mavi Marmara incident but also correction of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians, to which Israel obviously will continue to object, these developments risk leaving irreparable damage to bilateral ties. The most critical aspect of Ankara’s intended measures appears to be the decision to boost the Turkish naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean for the purpose of ensuring safe navigation. Taken together with Turkey’s rejection of the Gaza blockade, it might risk escalation of the crisis into a direct military confrontation. Moreover, Turkey’s preparation to bring Israel before the International Court of Justice will also further heighten the tensions on the political front. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to visit Gaza as well as the upcoming vote on Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly will only aggravate these tensions.
Whether Turkish-Israeli relations can be salvaged and who will mediate between the sides remain more uncertain than ever, and surprisingly the United States could exert little influence, if any, on both sides. But one thing remains certain: Turkey has so far failed to internationalize its disputes with Israel and will perhaps have difficulty in achieving this in the coming weeks.
Turkey compiles list of 174 Israelis, topped by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who were directly or indirectly involved in 2010 raid on Gaza-bound ship. Intelligence officials used social networks to track down participants, Sabah newspaper reports
Israel should have apologized to Turkey for its deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship, but instead allowed relations to deteriorate, according to United Kingdom’s former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
