Rights and Accountability 13 January 2012
Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) today denied a report in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot, carried also on its English website Ynet, that Turkey was to drop its legal actions and lawsuits against Israelis it holds responsible for the attack on the Gaza-bound ship Mavi Marmara on 31 May 2010 which killed 9 people and injured dozens.
Turkey’s Anatolia News Agency carried this report, which has been translated for The Electronic Intifada:
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the news report on Mavi Marmara published in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronot newspaper
ANKARA - MFA Spokesperson Selçuk Ünal denied claims that Turkey suspended cases that were opened against Israelis connected to the attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
In his statement to the Anatolian Agency, Spokesperson Ünal said “the claims in this report do not reflect the reality.”
A news report published in The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronot had claimed, based on sources in the US State Department , that Turkey suspended all cases opened against those Israelis involved in the raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla going to Gaza in 2010.
Israeli report allegedly based on “US sources”
Earlier, a Ynet report headlined “Turkey dropping Marmara lawsuits” claimed:
Sources in the US State Department said that the Turkish attorney general has ordered that all legal proceedings against Israeli elements involved in the IDF raid on the Marmara ship in May 2010 to be halted, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.
According to the sources, Turkish prosecutors were instructed to withdraw all proceedings against the elements that gave the order to take over the ship or who actively raided the vessel, an event which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens.
Turkish sanctions on Israel
Turkey’s decision to pursue legal action against Israel for the attack on the Mavi Marmara was announced as part of a package of sanctions last September which included downgrading diplomatic relations and severing military ties over Israel’s refusal to apologize for the attack and lift the siege of Gaza.
