President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye condemned Israel’s actions against the “Global Sumud” flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and underlined Ankara’s support for the participants in the flotilla.
The “Global Sumud” flotilla was intercepted last night in international waters by Israeli vessels; Israeli forces boarded several ships carrying activists.
Erdoğan stated, “I condemn the vandalism against the ‘Sumud’ flotilla, which seeks to draw attention to the atrocities and starvation suffered by children in Gaza and to deliver humanitarian aid to oppressed Palestinians.” He described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as “genocidal”, stressing that it “cannot tolerate the possibility of such (humanitarian aid) efforts and has no desire whatsoever to see peace established.”
President Erdoğan added, “The ‘Sumud’ flotilla represents the common conscience of humanity; Türkiye stands with all the hopeful voyagers of this flotilla. Our relevant institutions are monitoring developments and taking necessary measures to prevent any harm to the activists and our citizens on board.”
Earlier in the day, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement condemning Israel’s actions against the “Sumud” flotilla, describing them as a violation of international law and qualifying them as an “act of terrorism”.
According to Türkiye Today, the Turkish delegation on board reported that during last night’s assault on the humanitarian convoy en route to Gaza, 38 Turkish activists were “illegally” detained by Israeli security forces.