Father of Mavi Marmara victim joins Turkish PM’s delegation to US

WASHINGTON – Anatolia News Agency

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan has laid the foundation for a Turkish-American cultural center in Maryland during his first public event in the US. AA photo

The father of a victim of the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 is accompanying Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his US visit that kicked off on May 15. Ahmet Doğan, whose son Furkan was among the nine killed during the operation, told Anatolia news agency that he was hoping to meet President Barack Obama and give him information about the ongoing trials of the Israeli soldiers that participated in the raid. 

Doğan said that he had written a letter to Obama requesting a meeting but Erdoğan had asked him to join the delegation.

“I met with [Erdoğan] in Ankara before his departure to Washington. He said that he could give the letter to the U.S. President but that it would be better if I gave it him in person. So he asked me to join the delegation,” Doğan said, adding that he wanted to talk about the progress of the trials in the United States. “I intend to give him information on the latest developments regarding the trials and talk about Furkan’s situation if I can meet him in person,” he said.  

Erdoğan lays the foundation of a cultural center

Meanwhile Erdoğan has laid the foundation for a Turkish-American cultural center in Maryland during his first public event in the US. Erdoğan said that the project would be an important center reflecting the “alliance of civilizations.” “In a period marked by Islamophobia, this center will express the brotherhood showing how wrong [Islamophobia] is,” he said.