A prosecutor in Turkey has prepared indictments and
recommended life sentences for four senior Israeli officers over the killing of
nine activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla forcibly intercepted by Israeli
commandos two years ago, Turkish news services reported Wednesday.
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The indictments, which have not been formally approved by
the Turkish judiciary, could further strain relations between Turkey and
Israel, which were once close but which deteriorated badly after the flotilla
raid on May 31, 2010.
Israel has consistently rejected Turkey’s demand that it
formally apologize for the commando raid and lift its blockade of Gaza.
Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolia news agency said the
prosecutor, Mehmet Akif Ekinci, had prepared a 144-page indictment package that
would seek life imprisonment for Gabi Ashkenazi, the former chief of general
staff for the Israel Defense Forces; Vice Adm. Eliezer Marom, former commander
of naval forces; Gen. Amos Yadlin, the former military intelligence chief; and
Brig. Gen. Avishai Levy, the former head of air force intelligence.
The indictment further recommended that the four receive
additional prison terms totaling 18,000 years for what it called other crimes
committed by the Israeli side during the flotilla raid.
A six-vessel convoy, led by the passenger ship Mavi
Marmara, sailing under the Turkish flag, was stopped by Israeli commandos in
international waters as it headed toward Gaza with what activists described as
emergency-relief cargo to help Gaza’s Palestinian population cope with an
Israeli-imposed embargo.
Israel has asserted that it had the legal right to stop
the activists from violating the embargo, which was intended to prevent
shipments of weapons to Palestinian militants.
Eight of the activists killed were Turks; the ninth was
an American of Turkish descent. A United Nations report on the raid released in
September concluded that Israel had been within its legal rights but had used
excessive and unreasonable force.
The Turkish indictment said the commandos were armed with
rifles and other weapons, while the activists had “plastic flag masts, spoons
and forks.”
The Israeli government had little to say Wednesday about
the reports. “We’ve only heard about this from the media,” said Yigal Palmor, a
Foreign Ministry spokesman. “We did not get any information or communications
from the Turkish legal authorities, so we will not make any comment.”
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/world/middleeast/turkey-may-indict-israeli-generals-over-flotilla-raid.html?_r=1
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