A plane carrying activists from the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza landed at Istanbul Airport on Saturday with 137 passengers on board, including 36 Turks and 23 Malaysians. On arrival in Turkey, the survivors told Turkish media about harsh accounts of abuse, mistreatment and robbery during their detention by Israeli security forces.
According to Turkish media reports, one of the participants in the flotilla, Turkish activist Haşmet Yazıcı, alleged that his boat was attacked by drones in international waters, causing injuries and material damage to the boat. According to Yazıcı, Israeli assault boats harassed them in an attempt to sink the boat before armed commandos boarded it and took control.
Yazıcı explained that, after their arrest, the activists were made to sit on the concrete floor for three hours in the port of Ashdod, with their hands tied behind their backs and forced to rest their heads on the ground. According to his account, the soldiers “kicked elderly or weak people who could not stay in that position for hours and changed their position, pressing their heads to the ground, handcuffing them and leaving them like that for one or two hours“.
Yazıcı added that when the detainees wanted to testify in Turkish, an Israeli security officer insulted them by saying: “Dirty Turks, you already smell bad“. “They asked us why we had entered Israeli territory, and I replied: ‘We didn’t enter your territory, you kidnapped us by force in international waters’,” he said.
“We threw toys into the water in the hope that they would reach Gaza“
The well-known Turkish TV presenter Bekir Develi, another of the activists on the flotilla, said that during the four days they were detained, they went two days without food and four days without water; when they asked for water, they were beaten. Develi also reported that all their personal belongings and money were stolen by Israeli forces. “We couldn’t reach Gaza, but for the children, we threw the toys we were carrying in rubbish bags into the sea, praying that the sea would bring them to them,” he said.
Another Turkish activist, Mesut Çakar, confirmed that upon arrival at the Israeli port, they were forced to remain handcuffed for an hour with their hands behind their backs and their heads resting on the hot asphalt. “The Europeans were not treated like that; they only showed this humiliating treatment towards the Turks. They also stole some of my belongings,” he said.
“Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the prison, they laughed and took pictures of us“
Once in prison, Çakar recounted that they stayed in the same place for two to three hours; the Turkish activist recounted that they were not given water during the three days they were in the detention centre, being forced to drink from the toilet tap.
“Two comrades with asthma were suffering from breathing difficulties, but they did not receive their medication. In addition, we were woken up every two hours and constantly moved from cell to cell,” added Çakar, who also claimed that Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir (who called the Sumud Flotilla to Gaza activists “terrorists“), visited the prison and the activists during their stay. “They were laughing while smoking in front of us and taking pictures and videos of us,” he said.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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