Releasing a written statement in Ankara on Thursday, the TZOB head said: “We call on Turkish consumers not to buy Israeli products until this country ends the current despotism and inhumane acts.” Bayraktar’s remarks come hot on the heels of Monday’s bloody raid on a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza by Israeli commandos. The raid left nine peace activists, all of them Turkish nationals, dead, while a number of Turkish and foreign activists were wounded.
Governments worldwide condemned the brutal attack while mass protests around the world called for an end to the “Israeli government’s brutality.” Talking about the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza, Bayraktar said, “It is also the international community’s duty to say enough to this unfair embargo which oppresses hundreds of thousands of Gazan people.”
Bayraktar said governments and civil society organizations should take concrete steps to protest the “Israeli government’s brutality noncompliance with international law. We all need to form a single voice and put social and economic measures into action to this end.”
Noting that they have conveyed their message on this issue to the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) along with its 120 members in 79 countries, he said the TZOB has suggested that the federation undertake initiatives to encourage protest against Israel.
