Gaza-bound flotilla activists given hero’s welcome in Turkey

In Ankara, where three air ambulances landed, were Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Health Minister Recep Akdağ, who personally delivered their “get well soon” messages to all of the injured activists.

“They faced barbarism and oppression but returned with pride,” Arınç said. A few thousand jubilant relatives and supporters, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags, burst into applause outside the airport, chanting “God is great!”

Speaking to reporters, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said a total of 470 people had returned to İstanbul, including 466 activists and four deputies who had traveled Tel Aviv to bring back the flotilla activists. The planes waited at the Israeli airport for a long time before departure as the Turkish government refused to depart before each and every activist was onboard the planes. Davutoğlu said takeoff was delayed because Turkey “did not want any of its citizens to be left behind.” The majority of the 466 people aboard the planes were Turkish, with some British, Norwegian, Dutch and Spanish citizens among them.

Yavuz Dede, the vice president of the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), alleged that Israel had failed to account for all of the passengers and crew onboard the six ships and was deliberately delaying the activists’ departure to cover up the missing persons. “We see this delay in the planes’ [taking off] as an attempt to disguise the loss of people,” Dede said at a press conference at the foundation’s İstanbul headquarters.

The Israeli Interior Ministry, however, said all those aboard the aid convoy had been accounted for. They listed 702 activists deported and seven still in Israeli hospitals. They said five were taken to the Lebanese border and repatriated there. More than 120 activists from a dozen Muslim nations without diplomatic relations with Israel were deported to Jordan before sunrise on Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, several lawmakers and many people welcomed the Gaza aid convoy activists at the Atatürk Airport late on Wednesday.

Turkish Ambassador to Israel Oğuz Çelikkol, whom Turkey recalled in protest over the Israeli raid on the Turkish ship, also returned to İstanbul on Thursday.

As activists disembarked from the planes at İstanbul Atatürk Airport they raised their arms in defiance, but afterwards some were overcome with emotion and wept.

The bodies of those killed in the bloody attack and all the activists were taken to the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) for autopsies and health checks.

Turkey sent three air ambulances and three passenger planes to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to bring back the detained Turkish activists. All of the activists were flown home from Israel on Turkish planes early on Thursday after Turkey gave Israel an ultimatum, threatening to review the state of its ties with the Jewish state unless each and every Turkish national was safely returned. Tens of thousands of Turks gathered at İstanbul’s Taksim Square on Thursday night to celebrate the return of the peace activists. The group then went to İstanbul Atatürk Airport to welcome home the activists.

Injured Irish activist to Turkish delegate: Don’t leave me here

Health Minister Recep Akdağ and Davutoğlu welcomed three air ambulances that landed in Ankara late on Wednesday. The first ambulance, which touched down at the Etimesgut Military Airport at 11 p.m., was carrying two critically injured activists identified as İmdat Avli of Turkey and Irish national Almahti Alharati. Officials said Alharati was taken onboard the Turkish air ambulance at his request. “Don’t leave me here,” the activist reportedly told Turkish officials at the hospital he was being treated at in Tel Aviv.

The two other air ambulances, carrying 17 injured activists, landed in Ankara at around midnight. All of the 19 injured activists were taken to the Atatürk Teaching and Research Hospital. “These people, who hoped to extend a helping hand to Gaza, taught humanity a lesson even though they were exposed to atrocity. The injustice they faced will certainly be responded to. Now, we will try to provide spiritual support for them by dressing their and their families’ wounds,” Akdağ told reporters at the airport.

Davutoğlu previously announced that they had decided to leave two Turkish activists at a Tel Aviv hospital for a few more days since they are “too seriously wounded to be brought to Turkey.” Davutoğlu added, however, that a Turkish doctor would accompany the patients since “the Turkish government will not leave its citizens at the mercy of anyone.” Davutoğlu said on Thursday that they will be brought to Turkey as soon as they recover.

A Greek plane carrying 35 activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla also landed at a military airport near Athens early on Thursday, as more than a hundred relatives and supporters cheered and shouted pro-peace slogans. There were 31 Greeks, three French nationals and one American released by the Israeli authorities aboard the military aircraft, the Greek Air Force said. Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Greek lawmakers were also at Elefsis Airport to meet the returning activists. While Turkish and Greek protesters flew home on special planes sent by their respective governments, others on the ship from nearly 20 countries took commercial flights home. After all the planes took off, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said three activists remained in detention over “documentation and other issues,” without elaborating. The three were from Ireland, Australia and Italy.