02/06/2010 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned on Wednesday that his country will review its ties with the Zionist entity if Turkish activists detained in a deadly raid on aid ships bound for Gaza are not freed by Wednesday evening.
The minister said he delivered the warning to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a two-and-a-half hour meeting in Washington on Tuesday. "I expressed our absolute determination on the following issue: if our citizens are not released in 24 hours, by tonight in other words, we will review our ties with Israel entirely," he told reporters. "I asked her to intervene," the minister said, adding that he also explained to Clinton the sanctions Ankara planned to impose if Israel failed to meet the demand. He refused to elaborate.
"No one has the right to try people who were kidnapped in international waters," Davutoglu stressed, while calling for an international commission to investigate the deaths on the Gaza aid ship flotilla.
Meanwhile, the Turkish parliament urged the government to implement "effective" measures against Israel over its deadly raid on aid ships bound for Gaza.
The parliament "expects the Turkish government to review our political, military and economic ties with Israel and take the necessary effective measures," read a declaration adopted unanimously in the general assembly. "Turkey should resort to national and international legal means against Israel," it added.
The declaration also called for the establishment of an independent international commission to investigate the Israeli raid, which it said was a clear violation of the UN charter and international law. "The Israeli government should formally apologize over this attack, ensure that the perpetrators are brought to trial and punished; and pay compensation to the victims of the attack," it added.
The declaration also called on the UN Security Council "to adopt in the shortest time possible a resolution condemning Israel and stipulating sanctions," it said.
The parliament's human rights commission, meanwhile, decided to send a delegation to the occupied territories at an appropriate time to investigate the circumstances of the raid, the Anatolia news agency reported.
In a related development, Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday that Turkey's justice ministry is mulling possible legal action against Israel over its deadly raid on aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip. Officials are looking into both domestic and international law to see what action might be taken after Monday's operation in international waters that left nine people dead, among them at least four Turks, the report said. The ministry will also decide whether to file a complaint with Turkish prosecutors, it said.
The move coincided with complaints by rights activists asking Turkish prosecutors to try top Israeli officials as well as soldiers involved in the crime.
[ 02/06/2010 - 04:26 PM ]
ANKARA, (PIC)-- Turkey announced on Wednesday that its relations with Israel will not return to normalcy unless the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is lifted.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Dawood Oglu said that talks with members of the United Nations would begin on Thursday to form an international committee to investigate the attack on the Freedom Flotilla.
At a news conference after his visit to the USA to discuss Israel's aggression on the Freedom Flotilla, Oglu said that future Turkish relations with Israel depend on Israel's position in the coming period.
He also demanded the unconditional release of all Turkish citizens detained by Israel, and asked Tel Aviv to agree to an international investigation over the Flotilla events.
During an earlier meeting with journalists in Washington, Oglu said that Israel's aggression against the Freedom Flotilla shocked the Turkish people psychologically as much as September 11 shocked the American people.
He added, "We expect the USA to show solidarity with us…and I'm not happy with the comments made by the US yesterday."
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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