Turkish court to examine ‘Mavi Marmara’ ship

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

A Turkish has court ordered a fresh examination of the “Mavi Marmara” ship that was raided by Israeli soldiers while trying to break the blockade on Gaza in 2010, as a part of an ongoing case against four Israeli commanders changed in absentia with the killing of nine Turks.

According to a statement released by Istanbul’s 7th High Criminal Court board on March 12, the ship will be examined on May 25 in Istanbul with the participation of an expert appointed by the police, as well as victims and the court board.

In May 2010, Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in a raid on the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.” Another person died in a Turkish hospital in 2014 after being in coma for almost four years.

The convoy was organized and headed by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) and was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was under an Israeli blockade at the time.

In May 2014, the court ordered the arrest of four Israeli commanders, Israeli Chief of Staff, Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, former Naval Forces Cmdr. Eliezer Alfred Marom, former Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlinir and former Air Forces Intelligence head Brig. Gen. Avishai Levi, who are being tried in absentia.

Prosecutors have demanded life sentences for the four men, following a complaint filed by 33 relatives of the Turkish citizens who were killed aboard the ship.

The İHH had appealed in January 2014 against an International Criminal Court (ICC) decision not to investigate the deadly Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, and in November 2014 the ICC announced that it would not investigate the incident due to a lack of “sufficient gravity.”

Turkey and Israel had launched compensation talks for the Mavi Marmara victims after Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu issued an apology to then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the raid.