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[280plus]

Turkish PM calls Israeli ship raid a 'massacre'
           
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100601/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_israel

 By SELCAN HACAOGLU and SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer Selcan Hacaoglu And Suzan Fraser, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 6 mins ago
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's prime minister declared Tuesday that Israel had carried out a "bloody massacre" by killing nine people on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship and said the two countries had reached a turning point in their long-standing alliance.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel immediately after the raid, scrapped three joint military exercises and called the U.N. Security Council to an emergency meeting that demanded an impartial investigation.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers in the Parliament on Tuesday that the boarding of the Mediterranean flotilla and killing of at least four Turkish activists was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace."

"Today is a turning point in history. Nothing will be same again," Erdogan said.

This predominantly Muslim and historically secular country has close military and trade ties with the Jewish state but relations have been deteriorating since Israel's 2008-2009 war in Gaza. Erdogan, who leads an Islamic-rooted party, walked off the stage last year after berating Israel's President Shimon Peres at an international gathering in Davos, Switzerland, over the war in Gaza.

In January when Turkey's Ambassador Oguz Celikkol was not greeted with a handshake and was forced to sit on a low sofa during a meeting with Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, who later apologized.

The killing of the Turkish activists unleashed a new level of fury against Israel.

Thousands of pro-Islamic and nationalist Turks poured into the streets in Istanbul and Ankara Monday and protests continued on Tuesday outside Israeli diplomatic missions, with demonstrators carrying Palestinian and Turkish flags and shouting "down with Israel!"

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said four Turkish citizens were confirmed slain by Israeli commandos and another five were also believed to be Turks, although Israeli authorities were still trying to confirm their nationalities.

"This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse," Erdogan said, demanding that Israel immediately halt its "inhumane" blockade of Gaza.

The flotilla was the ninth attempt by sea to breach the three-year-old blockade Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group violently seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Israel allowed five seaborne aid shipments to get through but snapped the blockade shut after its 2009 war in Gaza.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Turkey would launch legal action at a Turkish court against Israel over the incident.

Erdogan said the Israeli raid proved "how good they are at killing people."

"Israel in no way can legitimize this murder, it cannot wash its hands of this blood," Erdogan said.

Turkey has been increasingly assertive diplomatically in the Middle East, backing Iran's attempts to quash new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program and trying to mediate Israeli talks with Syria, which demands the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Golan Heights as a condition for peace.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue to support the Palestinian people.

"We will not turn our back on Palestine, Palestinians and Gaza," Erdogan said.

"No one should test Turkey's patience," he added. "Turkey's hostility is as strong as its friendship is valuable."

He urged Israelis to question the actions of their government.

"It is damaging your country's image by conducting banditry and piracy," Erdogan said. "It is damaging interests of Israel and your peace and safety. It is the Israeli people who must stop the Israeli government in the first place."

He said Israel cannot face the international community without expressing "regret."

"Israel cannot ensure its security by drawing the hatred of the entire world," the prime minister declared.

Turkey sent three planes to bring back some 20 Turks wounded during clashes that broke out when Israeli commandos raided the Turkish vessel. Erdogan said he had snubbed an Israeli offer to fly back the Turkish wounded.

The nationalities of the dead have not been released yet.

[makattak]

Seems to me Isreal ought to start sending "aid" to the Kurds in Turkey.

I mean, so long as we're just concerned about oppressed people, right? The Turks wouldn't object to that at all!

E.g.: http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-about-convoy-to-turkey.html

[AJ Dual]

Right on time for the Koreas to get tense too.

And for us to be blessed with the best POTUS since Carter... 

[makattak]

Right on time for the Koreas to get tense too.

And for us to be blessed with the best POTUS since Carter... 

I will suggest that all these occurences are not unrelated.

I.e. everything is getting tense because the rest of the world recognizes weakness. America voted to make itself weak in November of 2008. This is simply the natural consequence of that stupidity.

[Hawkmoon]

I will suggest that all these occurences are not unrelated.

I.e. everything is getting tense because the rest of the world recognizes weakness. America voted to make itself weak in November of 2008. This is simply the natural consequence of that stupidity.

I agree. There are factions in the world that see how weak the U.S. military is, how over-stretched it is, and how we have a weak-kneed fence sitter (at best, closet Muslim at worst) occupying the White House, and they will be testing us. This was, and is, to be expected. Unfortunately, this is a test we may well fail, unless the mid-term elections unseat a whole bunch of Democrats and replace them with solid hawks.

I don't automatically approve of everything Israel does, but I certainly think they have a right to defend their security. Our Coast Guard boards ships and conducts searches, there's no reason Israel can't do the same. If their boarding party was attacked, as they said, then their choices were to retaliate with force, or call off the search. That would have been political/national suicide.

I'd like to see some videos of how the confrontation unfolded. Unedited, preferably. However, that may be asking a lot. It seems just a bit too "convenient" that Al-Jazeera was Johnny-on-the-spot, since they are so commendably objective in their reporting.

[Blakenzy]

Good in theory but bad in practice. The operation of intercepting vessels that are headed to your territory with dubious cargo (humanitarian aid, but you really can't know until you inspect it) is not at all outrageous. Now the way in which the operation was executed was piss poor IMO. For one they could have actually waited until the vessels were in their own territorial waters, lending more legitimacy. Perhaps roping down individual "commandos" into a scuffle to get jumped as they bounced on to the deck one by one wasn't such a bright idea either. It would have been much better to jam propellers with nets and leave the ships dead in the water (hell, even the dinky "Sea Shepherds" can do that!), buying time to see what is what or eventually tow the ships to a neutral port or a controlled location for boarding. And consider the background to the story; three year embargo that has 1.5 million living in rubble, hunger, disease viewed as collective punishment by pretty much any country that is not Israel or the US, does lend legitimacy (real or not) to the people trying to break the siege. When you shoot those people, you really look bad whether you were justified to or not.

I agree. There are factions in the world that see how weak the U.S. military is, how over-stretched it is, and how we have a weak-kneed fence sitter (at best, closet Muslim at worst) occupying the White House, and they will be testing us. This was, and is, to be expected. Unfortunately, this is a test we may well fail, unless the mid-term elections unseat a whole bunch of Democrats and replace them with solid hawks.

Well, being overstretched today is in fact a consequence of having let hawks fly unchecked after any scrawny varmint that crawled past, getting into brawls that we could have certainly done without. I can't argue against having hawks but we ought to learn to keep em perched on an arm with that funny little hat over their heads until we really need them loose.