{"id":912,"date":"2010-06-04T15:06:31","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T09:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mohamediqbalp.wordpress.com\/2010\/06\/04\/turkey-holds-activists-funerals\/"},"modified":"2010-06-04T15:06:31","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T09:36:31","slug":"turkey-holds-activists-funerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2010\/06\/04\/turkey-holds-activists-funerals\/","title":{"rendered":"‘ funerals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal reports from
\nIstanbul after being released by Israel following convoy raid<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Turkish forensic experts have confirmed that the
\nnine activists killed during the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla
\nwere shot with guns.<\/p>\n

Eight were Turks and one a US national of Turkish origin, the
\nAnatolia news agency reported on Thursday as funerals got under way in
\nIstanbul.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/span>
\n <\/p>\n

The remaining activists, including some who were
\ninjured in the Israeli raid, landed in the Turkish city early on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, who reported from the ship as the raid
\nbegan, was also sent to Turkey by Israel after being released by the
\nIsraelis.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Elshayyal said that he witnessed some of the
\nkillings, and confirmed that at least “one person was shot through the
\ntop of the head from [the helicopter] above”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
IN DEPTH<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Our producer was on the top deck when the ship was attacked and said
\nthat within a few minutes of seeing the Israeli helicopters, there were
\nshots being fired from above.<\/p>\n

“The first shots [coming from Israeli boats at sea] were tear gas,
\nsounds grenades and rubber coated steel bullets,” Elshayyal said.<\/p>\n

“Live
\n shots came five minutes after that. There was definetly live fire from
\nthe air and from the sea as well.”<\/p>\n

He confirmed that some passengers took apart some of the ship’s
\nrailing bars to defend themselves as they saw the Israeli soldiers
\napproaching.<\/p>\n

“After the shooting and the first deaths, people put up white flags
\nand signs in English and Hebrew,” he said.<\/p>\n

“An Israeli [on the ship] asked the soldiers to take away the
\ninjured, but they did not, and the injured died on the ship.”<\/p>\n

Heroes welcome<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier three air ambulances landed at a military base in Ankara, the
\n Turkish capital, carrying wounded activists who were transferred to
\nhospitals in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Activists
\nkilled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

 <\/td>\nTurkish victims<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nIbrahim Bilgen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nAli Haydar Bengi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nCevdet Kili\u00e7lar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n\u00c7etin Top\u00e7uoglu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nNecdet Yildirim<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nFahri Yaldiz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nCengiz Song\u00fcr<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nCengiz Aky\u00fcz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nUS victim<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nFurkan Dogan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Hundreds of supporters including Bulent Arinc, Turkey’s deputy prime
\nminister, and several other Turkish politicians were at the airport in
\nIstanbul to welcome the returning activists.<\/p>\n

“They faced barbarism and oppression but returned with pride,” Arinc
\ntold hundreds of jubilant relatives and supporters outside the airport,
\nchanting “God is Great!”<\/p>\n

A crowd of several thousand gathered in central Istanbul to celebrate
\n the activists’ return.<\/p>\n

An aircraft carrying 31 Greek activists, together with three French
\nnationals and an American, flew into Athens airport in the early hours
\nof Thursday, the Israeli foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n

Seven activists wounded in Monday’s clashes were still being treated
\nin an Israeli hospital, it said.<\/p>\n

Three others – an Irishman and two women from Australia and Italy
\n– remained in Israel “for technical reasons”, the ministry said.<\/p>\n

But Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Jerusalem, said
\nthat four Palestinian-Israelis remain in prison.<\/p>\n

Our correspondent said that Raed
\nSalah,<\/a>a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was one of those
\nstill being held.<\/p>\n

Israel defiant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel has remained defiant about the raid and says it is ready to
\nintercept another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie<\/em>, that organisers
\nof the Freedom Flotilla say is due to head for the Gaza Strip next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
IN DEPTH<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

 <\/td>\nBlog:<\/strong> <\/span>Israel defending the indefensible<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nTwitter:<\/strong> <\/span>Sherine Tadros<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nPictures:<\/strong> <\/span>Protests around the world<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nPrevious
\n activists killed by Israel<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nFocus: <\/span><\/strong>On board the Freedom Flotilla<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nFocus:<\/strong> <\/span>Gaza’s
\n real humanitarian crisis<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nVideo: <\/span><\/strong>Israel’s Gaza PR offensive<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nProgrammes:<\/strong> <\/span>Born in Gaza<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Accusing international critics of “hypocrisy,” Binyamin Netanyahu,
\nthe Israeli prime minister, defended the seizure of the aid ships on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n

“This was not the Love Boat,” he said in a televised address to the
\nnation, referring to the vessel boarded by commandos. “It was a hate
\nboat.”<\/p>\n

“These weren’t pacifists, these weren’t peace activists, they were
\nviolent supporters of terrorism.”<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said the aim of the flotilla was to break the blockade of
\nGaza, not to bring aid.<\/p>\n

He said that if the blockade ended, ships would bring in thousands of
\n missiles from Iran to be aimed at Israel and beyond, creating what he
\nsaid would be an Iranian port on the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

“The same countries that are criticising us today should know that
\nthey would be targeted tomorrow,” Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n

However, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the flotilla
\ntragedy only highlights the serious underlying problem – namely, the
\nsiege imposed on the Gaza.<\/p>\n

He said that the siege was “counter-productive, unsustainable and
\nwrong”.<\/p>\n

“It punishes innocent civilians,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ban said the siege should be lifted immediately.<\/p>\n

No mention of inquiry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Netanyahu’s comments came hours after Turkey warned it would cut off
\ndiplomatic ties with Israel if its citizens killed and injured in the
\nGaza flotilla raid were not returned by Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Mohyeldin said the Israeli prime minister’s address did not include
\nmention of an inquiry into the attack, as many have demanded.<\/p>\n

“If the international community, or the Turkish government, were
\nwaiting to hear Binyamin Netanyahu announce an independent investigation
\n to look into this deadly raid, it certainly did not come as expected,
\nor as the international community and the UN Security Council had
\ndemanded,” Mohyeldin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thousands of
\nprotesters welcomed the activists’ return to Turkey [Reuters]<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

“Instead the Israeli prime minister once again defended the Israeli
\ncourse of action.”<\/p>\n

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, has called for an
\ninternational commission into the raid.<\/p>\n

“We have clearly stated that we would review our ties with Israel if
\nall Turks not released by the end of the day,” he said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Davutoglu also said Turkey was ready to normalise ties with Israel if
\n it lifted its blockade on Gaza, saying “it was time calm replaces
\nanger”.<\/p>\n

Relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated rapidly since
\nthe deadly raid, with most of the bloodshed occurring on the Mavi
\nMarmara<\/em>, a Turkish-flagged ship carrying hundreds of
\npro-Palestinian activists.<\/p>\n

State media reported on Wednesday that Turkey’s justice ministry is
\nconsidering legal action against Israel.<\/p>\n

Officials are looking into both domestic and international law to see
\n what action might be undertaken after Monday’s operation in
\ninternational waters, a report by the Anatolia news agency said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal reports from Istanbul after being released by Israel following convoy raid Turkish forensic experts have confirmed that the nine activists killed during the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla were shot with guns. Eight were Turks and one a US national of Turkish origin, the Anatolia news agency reported on…
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