Local court rejects Mavi Marmara victim’s compensation trial

KAYSERİ - Anadolu Agency

Nine Turkish citizens died during the raid on the Mavi Marmara vessel conducted by Israel on May 31, 2010.

A local court in Kayseri rejected on Dec. 25 a compensation trial opened on behalf of a victim of the Mavi Marmara raid conducted by the Israeli military in 2010, leading to the death of nine Turkish citizens.
 
The head judge rejected the trial on the grounds that Israel could not be tried in the Turkish courts. Relatives of Furkan Doğan, one of the Turkish citizens killed in the raid, had requested 4 million Turkish Liras of compensation from Israel.
 
The trial comes amid compensation talks between Israel and Turkey for the victims of the raid. The vast majority of the text’s wording for the compensation agreement is settled, diplomatic sources said, but the amount of the compensation is reportedly yet to be determined.
 
The head of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s (İHH) Kayseri branch said the lawyers of the plaintiffs would appeal the ruling.
 
“What’s more serious [than the ruling] is when the judge said ‘Did you ask us when you went there’ to people reacting to the decision in the courtroom. Turkey’s legal system guarantees its citizens right to open trials against all the unjust actions that they become subject to inside or outside the country,” Şaban Sözduyar said, adding that he believed the ruling would be reversed at the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals.
 
“No persecution by any country, especially Israel, should remain unanswered,” he added.
 
The İHH, an NGO which bases its humanitarian relief action on Islamic principles, was the operator of the Mavi Marmara and one of the main organizers of the Gaza Flotilla in May 2010.