Turkey ready to issue indictments in Marmara incident

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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Turkish government prosecutors reportedly want the names of Israeli soldiers who participated in the 2010 raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara for an indictment.

The prosecutors made the request to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said Tuesday, according to the English-language Today’s Zaman, citing the Anatolia news agency. Prosecutors have completed their investigation into the incident. 

Israeli naval commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, which claimed to be carrying humanitarian aid, after warning it not to sail into waters near Gaza. Nine Turkish nationals, including a Turkish-American man, were killed in the ensuing clashes.

Israel’s government-appointed Turkel Commission found in its investigation that the government and the military behaved appropriately, and that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza was legal.

The United Nations’ Palmer Committee also found the blockade to be legal but said Israel used excessive force while boarding the vessel. .

Turkey’s inquiry deemed the Gaza blockade and the Israeli raid to have been illegal. 
 

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