09/06/2010 Asian and Middle Eastern leaders united in condemning an Israeli deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships at a security summit Tuesday, as host nation Turkey warned Israel was "isolated" in the region.
Twenty-one states -- all the members of the CICA Asia security forum except Israel -- backed the text issued in Istanbul denouncing the May 31 Israeli assault on a flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean. The flotilla was carrying aids and supplies to help the besieged people of Gaza survive an unsustainable three-year blockade imposed by Israel.
The presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, as well as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas were among the leaders present for the summit.
Together they "expressed their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken by the Israeli Forces" and denounced a "blatant violation" of international law.
The states said they "deeply deplored" the killing of nine Turkish activists and lent support for the United Nations to set up an international commission to investigate the raid.
"This is a clear manifestation of how Israel has isolated itself," Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who chaired the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), told reporters.
"It is impossible for us to forgive the bloodshed," Gul said.
In the wake of the Israeli massacre, Ankara recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and said that economic and defense ties with Israel would be reduced to a "minimum level".
Putin said Russia would raise at the United Nations the issue of who should investigate the Israeli raid, which he denounced as "a crude violation" of international law.
"We can't allow a new flame to flare up in the Middle East.... We will raise the issue at the United Nations, we're working at it," he told reporters.
Turkey said Monday that normalization of ties with Israel would be "out of the question" if it failed to agree to an international probe, a move the Jewish state has rejected.
On Tuesday Israel outlined plans to hold its own limited probes into the deadly raid.
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