ISTANBUL, Turkey, Oct. 13 (UPI) — A Turkey prosecutor is seeking a Red Notice for 174 Israelis involved in a 2010 flotilla raid that killed nine activists on a Turkish aid ship, a report says.
Today’s Zaman said the Bugun daily reported Thursday Istanbul Public Prosecutor Mehmet Akif Ekinci, who is investigating the May 2010 flotilla attack, had reportedly written to the Turkish Justice Ministry requesting Interpol Red Notices for the Israeli soldiers and commanders.
The Bugun report also said the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office had written to Israeli authorities seeking names and home addresses of military and government officials who gave orders to attack the ship and those who carried out the raid on the ship, which was carrying humanitarian aid.
After Israel refused to provide the information, the prosecutor requested help from the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, which obtained the identities of the Israelis through Facebook, Bugun said.
Israeli would not confirm the identities, prompting the prosecutor to go to the Justice Ministry, Bugun said.
The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office had earlier denied Ekinci asked the NIO to identify the Israelis involved in the attack and said the list of names came from the Humanitarian Aid Foundation, the Turkish charity that owns the ship.
The ship, the Mavi Marmara, was part of an international humanitarian aid flotilla that tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Turkey said it would not recognize the blockade’s legitimacy and called on Israel to apologize for the raid and pay compensation for the nine people who were killed — eight Turkish nationals and a Turkish-American. Relations between the countries have been tense since then, and Turkey downgraded diplomatic ties with Israel and suspended all military agreements.
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