The organizations set off for Syria yesterday after Syrian officials announced that they would not ask for a passport or any other official document from the activists. The 250-vehicle convoy included activists from many Turkish cities, including Van, Diyarbakır, Batman, Bingöl, Elazığ, Urfa, Kahramanmaraş and Erzurum. The convoy was planning to reach the Golan Heights yesterday night.
The activists will set up camp in the Golan Heights to pressure Israel to send the humanitarian aid in the flotilla to Gaza as soon as possible.
Participants of the convoy said they do not believe that Israel will send the aid to Gaza and decided to pressure the Israeli government with a major rally. “We will not return until we learn all aid materials have reached Gaza,” they remarked.
In the early morning hours of Monday, Israeli naval commandos attacked a Turkish boat in international waters and killed at least nine peace activists and wounded dozens more. The boat was one of six boats in the Freedom Flotilla, which was bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. The violent attack increased the already high tension between Turkey and Israel, with Turkish authorities vowing to make Israel pay the price of their atrocity. The NGOs will be joined by civil society groups based in İstanbul on Friday.
