Turkish prosecutors complete investigation on Mavi Marmara raid

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said the Justice Ministry had requested information from the Foreign Ministry on Israeli soldiers to be mentioned in the indictment regarding the attack on the Mavi Marmara aid ship. “When we receive this information, we will send the indictments to the concerned courts,” Ergin told the Anatolia news agency.

Nine Turks were killed when they Israeli Navy attacked a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May 2010. Following the attack, Israel's government set up the Turkel Commission, a commission of inquiry headed by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, to investigate the attack. Turkish leaders dismissed the Israeli investigation, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated the demand for an independent investigation, stating that the Israeli investigation will not have international credibility.

Turkey also established an inquiry into the events, which found, in contrast to the Israeli inquiry, the Gaza blockade and the Israeli raid to have been illegal. After the Turkish inquiry, Turkey described the raid as a violation of international law “tantamount to banditry and piracy” and described the killings of activists as “state-sponsored terrorism.” Concerning the Israeli inquiry, Turkey said its own commission was “surprised, appalled and dismayed that the national inquiry process in Israel has resulted in the exoneration of the Israeli armed forces.”