Turkey gets angry as Israel says attack on Gaza flotilla legal

Turkey yesterday called the findings of an Israeli investigation into a deadly raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid ships "biased and meaningless," The National reports.

The Israeli inquiry concluded that the attack last May, in which nine Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos, did not violate international law. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, made it clear his country views the report as a whitewash.

"This report was bespoke," Erdogan said yesterday. "Can a report written by the country itself have any value? For me, this report has no value, no validity."

Turkey's own investigative body set up after the May 31 attack, the National Research and Investigation Commission, said it had heard of the Israeli findings "with consternation and dismay". It said the Israeli attack had "trampled on all international norms".

The findings of the Turkish commission's investigation into the raid on the flotilla, led by the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara, also became public yesterday.

It held Israel responsible for the violence on board the vessel, which had been sent to Gaza by an Islamic aid organization that Israel claims is an extremist group. "The force used to intercept the Mavi Marmara exceeded the limits of what was appropriate and necessary," the report said.

In Israel, international criticism prompted politicians to appoint a commission headed by a former judge, Yaakov Tirkel, to examine the legality of the military operation as well as Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. In its report yesterday, the six-member Tirkel commission concluded that the raid and the blockade complied with international law. "The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip … was legal pursuant to the rules of international law," the panel said. It regretted the loss of life, but said "the actions taken were found to be legal". The commission said Israeli troops "encountered extreme violence" from activists when they boarded the Mavi Marmara.

While the Turkish report described the activists on the ship as victims, the Israeli one said activists "used firearms against the soldiers."