Turkey Document: Ankara's Response to Israeli Commission's Findings on the Freedom Flotilla

After Israel's Turkel Commission found that the Israel Defense Forces' killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla was "self-defense", Ankara has responded by publishing details of its own report, submitted last September to the United Nations enquiry. 

The report asserted that two of the activists were killed before any Israeli soldier descended onto the deck. It claimed Israeli forces had terrorised passengers, abusing them physically and psychologically with strip-searches and sexual humiliation.

The full transcript of the Turkish press release....

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Israel Latest: Turkel Committee on Gaza Flotilla Raid "Self-Defense for a Legal Blockade"

In the first part of its findings,  the Turkel Commission, an Israeli panel of enquiry into last May's Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, declared that commandos acted in self-defense when they boarded the lead ship, killing nine Turkish citizens. The committee said that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip does not break international law, adding that Israel had also complied with the humanitarian conditions for such a blockade.

The official report did express some criticism of West Jerusalem, calling on officials to "examine the medical needs of the people of Gaza in order to find ways to improve the current situation" and to find ways to "focus its sanctions on Hamas while avoiding harm against the civilian population".

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