 |
US reluctantly calls Turkey’s report on Mavi Marmara ‘credible’
Descriptions delivered by US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley on Wednesday concerning Turkey’s report came only after insistent questions asking whether he would use the same adjectives he used for Israel’s report to also describe Turkey’s report.
As of Monday, Crowley told reporters on Monday that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s panel remains the “primary forum for the international community to review the incident.” But he called the completion of the first part of the Israeli probe “an important step,” as it looked to the release of the second part over the next few months.
“We think that this is an independent report, credible and impartial and transparent investigation that has been undertaken by Israel,” Crowley said. “And it will contribute to the broader process that continues through the [UN] secretary-general,” he added.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists -- eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish American -- were killed when Israeli commandos boarded a ship sailing as part of the flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, on May 31. An Israeli panel that investigated the raid said Sunday that the armed defense of Israel’s maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal strip was justified under international law. Turkey condemned the report on Sunday, saying it was “surprised, appalled and dismayed.”
An interim report prepared by Turkish officials, a copy of which was obtained by Today’s Zaman, ruled out arguments by Israeli officials that its forces acted in self-defense during the naval raid on the flotilla, stating that there is no room for the Israeli side to justify a military attack in international waters targeting a civilian convoy carrying humanitarian assistance to a territory that is illegally blockaded.
“The contribution made by Turkey and its analysis and Israel and its ongoing analysis will help us in this ongoing effort to understand what happened fully. And this is an area that still has work to be done. What is of equal importance to us is the longstanding ties that we have to both Israel and Turkey. They are both close friends of the United States. They have a relationship that has been important bilaterally and to the region, and we hope that both countries will continue to seek opportunities to move beyond the recent strains in their own bilateral relations,” Crowley said on Wednesday when reminded of the content of Turkey’s report, which runs contrary to Israel’s report, at a daily press briefing.
Later at the briefing, Crowley was directly asked whether he would use the adjectives “transparent and independent” for Turkey’s report.
“I think that Turkey has put forward its own good-faith effort. I have no reason to question that,” Crowley said. He was then again reminded of the fact that it is “directly at odds with the Israeli report.”
“Well, and given the incident and the circumstances, I don’t think that we’re surprised that there are differing views of what transpired. That is expressly why we support the UN panel so that we can take the Turkish perspective, and it has a valid perspective; we can take the Israeli perspective, it has a valid perspective; and together, try to fully understand what happened. So -- but just to reinforce that through the UN panel there’s still work to be done and there’s still, obviously, an effort that will be important to understand fully what happened last year,” Crowley responded this time.
“So you would not use the same words to describe the Turkish report as the Israelis?” a journalist then asked. “I’m saying that Turkey -- it is an independent, credible report. I’m not challenging either one,” Crowley, eventually, responded.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| EKREM DUMANLI |  |
||
| When a call for fairness and reason finds acceptance | |||
| ŞAHİN ALPAY |  |
||
| Uludere, test case for democracy in Turkey | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| Taking lessons from previous experiences with the military | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| ÖMER TAŞPINAR |  |
||
| A new phase in Syria? | |||
| İHSAN DAĞI |  |
||
| Turkish foreign policy: Time for a re-evaluation | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| The 1960 coup: a final test for democracy | |||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
