THE Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said on Thursday 3 June that there were still missing people from the convoy that was detained by Israel when carrying aid to Gaza.
IHH’s chairman Bulent Yildirim said Israel handed over bodies of nine dead people so far.
‘However, we have a longer list, there are still people who are missing,’ Yildirim told reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.
Yildirim was one of the passengers on the ‘Mavi Marmara’ ship that was attacked by Israel when carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israeli Navy forces raided on Monday a convoy of IHH ships carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza, killing nine people and injuring 30 others.
‘Our doctors handed over 38 people who were injured to Israel, however they told us that there were only 21 injured when we were returning,’ Yildirim said.
‘Israeli soldiers started to attack our ship from planes and from boats early on Monday; at first we thought it was a show, however, soldiers started to get on our ship,’ he said.
Yildirim said passengers on the ship showed civil resistance.
‘We defended ourselves with iron rods against the best teams and commandos of Israel,’ Yildirim said.
Yildirim said many people were wounded by gas bombs, and a journalist named Cevdet was taking photographs when he was shot by a bullet.
‘We rendered 10 of the soldiers who got on the ship ineffective, we took their weapons, but it would have been self-defence even if we had used those weapons, however, we threw the weapons into the sea,’ he said.
Yildirim said one of their friends was shot after he surrendered, and there was nothing like humanitarian conduct during that time.
After they detained them, Israeli soldiers insulted them, Yildirim said.
Yildirim said Israeli officials started to conciliate with us after torturing us because Turkey and the world rebelled.
‘We will continue until the embargo is lifted, and we will make the entire world take action from the sea and land with bigger convoys to end the embargo,’ he said.
Yildirim said: ‘This is not serious. Palestinian women and children are experiencing ten-times more than this every day.’
The IHH launched the aid campaign against violence, and there were people from every religion among their group, he said.
Yildirim also said the entire world condemned Israel; Greek volunteers had been hit when Israeli soldiers got on the ship but they did not take a backward step.
Three Turkish Airlines (THY) planes, carrying activists who were detained in the recent Israeli raid against Gaza-bound aid ships, landed in Istanbul early on Thursday.
The planes, carrying 466 activists as well as the bodies of nine people that were killed in the attack, landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport at short intervals.
Turkish State Minister & Deputy Premier Bulent Arinc and a number of officials welcomed the THY planes which also brought back four Justice and Development (AK) Party deputies who went to Israel to help the volunteers.
Meanwhile, the chief doctor of a hospital in the Turkish capital said on Thursday 3 June that a wounded Irish activist, who was brought from Israel following the raid against Gaza-bound aid ships, had several injuries stemming from acts of battery.
Forty-one-year-old Irish activist Almahti Alharati, who was brought to Turkey from Israel with an ambulance plane on Wednesday after getting wounded at Monday’s Israeli attack on ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, has been taken under treatment at Ankara’s Ataturk Training and Research Hospital.
Making a statement regarding the Irish patient’s health, the hospital’s Chief Doctor Metin Dogan said the patient was currently conscious and had several injuries caused by acts of battery.
On Monday, an Israeli raid on the convoy of ships with more than 600 activists on board killed nine people and injured nearly 30 others. all of the dead were reported to be Turkish citizens.
Late on Wednesday, an ambulance plane landed at Ankara’s Etimesgut Airport with two injured activists on board. Turkish health minister said one of the activists was Turkish citizen Imdat Avli and the other was a citizen of Ireland.
After a couple of hours, two ambulance planes also arrived at a military base in the Turkish capital with 17 wounded Turkish citizens on board.
Then early on Thursday, the three THY planes carrying the 466 activists as well as the bodies of nine people that were killed in the Israeli attack landed in Istanbul.
Two reporters of the Anadolu Agency (AA) returned to Turkey on Thursday 3 June after they were detained in Israel together with over 600 people who were on ships carrying aid to Gaza.
AA reporter Yucel Velioglu and Erhan Sevenler were the passengers of the Mavi Marmara ship bound to Gaza with humanitarian aid and volunteers.
‘Almost 20 zodiac boats, four boats, two submarines and helicopters waylaid the Mavi Marmara ship from the sea and air at 0414 (local time) on 31 May when we were sailing in international waters,’ Velioglu said.
Velioglu said Israeli soldiers got on the ship, and a row occurred between the Israeli soldiers and crew and passengers on the ship, and Israeli soldiers opened fire on people, killing and injuring them.
‘We ran away and tried to communicate to our friends via radio during the row, and almost 10 Turkish journalists went to the press centre on the ship,’ he said.
Velioglu said IHH executives called on people on the ship not to resist as there were many injured, and commandos came to the press centre, pointed guns at them and detained them.
The ships then started to set sail at 0900 with helicopters flying over them, he said.
Velioglu said soldiers gave them water from time to time, and those who had to use the bathroom had handcuffs on them when they returned.
The ship arrived at the Ashdod port at around 1800, and the first group got out of the ship at around 1900-2000 on Monday, he said.
Velioglu said Israeli soldiers handcuffed every one, took their photographs and interrogated them.
‘Our fingerprints were taken, and we were body searched,’ he said.
Velioglu said they signed papers which wrote that they entered Israel illegally and wanted to leave the country as soon as possible.
‘Then we were taken to prison vehicles and it took one and a half hours to get to the prison; we were placed in two-people and four-people cells,’ he said.
Velioglu said Israeli executives interrogated everybody one by one, distributed them clothes and put them in wards.
‘They woke us up all the time to disturb us, and they started to free people as of 0130 on Wednesday as they completed procedures,’ he said.
Soldiers are reported to have also taken belongings and cameras.
Velioglu said he was out of the prison at 0400, went to the airport, and returned to Turkey after waiting in the plane for almost 14 hours.
photo reporter Erhan Sevenler said reporters gathered at the back of the ship when they learned that frigates and submarines were approaching, and they tried to record the developments.
‘Commandos started to jump on the ship from a helicopter, and I ran there to record it,’ he said.
Sevenler said he heard Israeli soldiers using real bullets and he got back when he understood that they were real bullets, not resonance bombs or plastic bullets.
‘We then went to the press centre,’ Sevenler also added.
Sevenler said journalists tried to stay together during all those days, but they were separated at the prison and on the planes.
‘I am happy to be back in Turkey, and I cannot believe that this is over,’ he also said.
Turkish civil society groups are saying the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government should take action to make Israeli authorities pay the price for the violent assault.
‘All diplomatic relations with Israel should be stopped so that it will be forced to grow lonelier in the world. In addition, all defence treaties Turkey has signed with Israel in the past should immediately be cancelled unilaterally,’ read a statement released by the Kayseri branch of the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (Mazlum-Der).
Numan Seker, Bursa provincial chairman of the Civil Servants’ Trade Union (Memur-Sen), joined IHH calls for a boycott of Israeli goods to show the anger of the Turkish nation against the disproportionate use of power against unarmed activists.
Seker also said that an economic boycott would be insufficient, asserting that Turkey should suspend diplomatic relations with Israel, which could include the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.
