Organizers are planning to send a second flotilla to Gaza, blockaded by Israel, in June to deliver humanitarian aid to Gazans. On May 31 of last year, Israeli commandos intercepted the flotilla in international waters, killing eight Turks and one Turkish American on one of the ships, the Mavi Marmara.
“Even before the second flotilla departs, the US, Israel and Egypt made a deal to open the Rafah crossing so as to prevent our trip. That means perhaps Palestine will be all free if we just sail,” Bülent Yıldırım, who heads the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), said on Sunday evening.
He was speaking at a gathering in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri to commemorate the nine people who were killed on the Mavi Marmara, owned by the İHH.
Israel has asked Turkey and European states to stop the flotilla but Turkey refuses to take any action, saying it is a civilian initiative. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has recently urged Israel not to “repeat the same mistake” with regard to the second flotilla.
Yıldırım also called on supporters to join the flotilla activists. “We want you to fill out the application forms on our website so that we can get 1 million applicants. This will show Israel that we can sail to Gaza with a million people after it killed nine of our people,” he said.
