ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- A massive bon voyage party attended by hundreds of Turkish people was held on Saturday in Sarayburnu port in Istanbul to celebrate the launch of Turkish aid ships that will join the Freedom Flotilla convoy on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in 1948 occupied lands, dignitaries from Arab, Muslim and Turkish cities and hundreds of Turkish people participated in the event which turned into an occasion for solidarity with Gaza people.
Amid cheers and waving of Turkish and Palestinian flags, and before the sailing of Turkish cruise ship Mavi Marmara, sponsored by the IHH relief foundation, prominent attendees gave speeches hailing the generous Turkish support for Gaza people and condemning the suffocating Israeli blockade imposed on them.
The Freedom Flotilla coalition, that organized the convoy, is comprised of Free Gaza movement, European campaign to end the siege of Gaza, the Turkish IHH relief foundation, Ship to Gaza Greece, Ship to Gaza Sweden, and the international committee to lift the siege on Gaza, with hundreds of groups and organizations around the world supporting the effort.
The convoy will be carrying about 750 multinational passengers to Gaza and 10,000 kilograms of vital needs that have been denied to Gaza people by Israel.
For his part, MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular committee against the siege, explained in a press release that the countdown for the arrival of the Freedom Flotilla convoy in Gaza started with the sailing of three Turkish ships on Saturday from Istanbul to the Turkish coastal city of Antalya.
MP Khudari stated that on May 25, eight ships, three from Antalya and five from Greece, will move to meet Rachel Corrie ship, which had already sailed from Ireland, to a specific point off the coast of the Cypriot port of Larnaca.
He added that the nine ships are scheduled to reach the shores of Gaza before the end of this month.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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