Turkey calls for International inquiry to Israel Flotilla raid at the Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit
Turkey has put more pressure on Israel on Monday to accept an International inquiry into the botched Flotilla take over by the Israeli Defense Forces (DFS) which led to the death of eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish born American.
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkish Foreign Ministers in front of media after talks regarding relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan which has greatly increased in recent years.
Leaders and representatives from many Asian States and governments were in Istanbul for the conference of the Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit.
However the CICA was largely overshadowed due to the Aid Flotilla raid on International Waters which led to the death of nine activists and has severely ruptured relations between Turkey and Israel, the once close allies.
Turkey has once again urged Israel to accept an International inquiry on the raid which resulted in the deaths of nine activists on Monday the first day of the summit.
The crisis between Israel and Turkey is also expected to highlight the summit on Tuesday.
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s Foreign Minister said on Monday that the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel will depend on Israel accepting an International inquiry, which Israel has recently rejected.
Davutoglu said “If Israel gives the green light for the establishment of an international enquiry and is ready to answer to the commission, then naturally Turkish-Israeli ties will follow a different path,”
“But they continue to evade that, normalization in relations would be out of the question,” he said.
Turkey have also received large support from the CICA summit in which representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine and Russia were present.
Meanwhile Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian leader has called for new resolutions to break the Gaza blockade by Israel which was placed in the area by Israel and Egypt in 2007, after the violent takeover of Hamas.
Egypt have opened their borders to Palestinians temporarily after mounting pressure from the Muslim and Arab world and the Egyptian citizens after the Israeli raid on the Aid flotilla ships led by Turkish owned Mavi Marmara.
Abbas who spoke to NTV, one of Turkey’s most renowned News Channel, said “If these convoys have been unsuccessful in lifting the blockade, then efforts must undoubtedly be intensified,”
“The best answer to the raid is for Palestinian groups to reconcile and resist Israel hand in hand,” said the Palestinian leader, who was to travel on to Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama.
The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta and Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi also expressed their support for Turkey and condemned Israel. Qureshi said “The people of Pakistan are with you, the government of Pakistan is with you. We feel that there was no justification of this aggression,” while Spanta pledged Afghanistan’s support.
Turkey has played a key role between Pakistan and Afghanistan relations against extremist Islamists which passed through the Pakistan Afghanistan borders.
Pakistan, in recent months had attacked several tribal areas where Taliban leaders were suspected of hiding causing major damage to the terrorist organization.
The Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit was created in 1992 by Kazakhstan President, Nursultan Nazarbayev after the end of the Cold War, for challenges which Asian countries faced for international peace.
The first CICA summit took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2002, and currently has 22 state members which consist of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan,Palestine, South Korea, Israel, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Vietnam and Uzbekistan.
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Ukraine, USA, United Nations, OSCE and Arab League are also observers of the summit.
Israel has so far not said whether they will attend or who will represent the country, but if they do it is widely believe that the Israeli Ambassador for Turkey will attend.
The recent brave actions of Turkey on several international issues have provided many people across the planet with hope that perhaps there are still a few politicians that actually care about their citizens and about injustices being done to long-suffering peoples like the Palestinians. Many of us who live in other countries wish that our governments had reacted exactly as Tayyip Erdogan has done and is continuing to do after the massacre on the Mavi Marmara.
The only question I have is why an international investigation is at all required. It is totally obvious where the blame for this event lies – a universal condemnation, not an investigation is what is needed.
The recent brave actions of Turkey on several international issues have provided many people across the planet with hope that perhaps there are still a few politicians that actually care about their citizens and about injustices being done to long-suffering peoples like the Palestinians. Many of us who live in other countries wish that our governments had reacted exactly as Tayyip Erdogan has done and is continuing to do after the massacre on the Mavi Marmara.
The only question I have is why an international investigation is at all required. It is totally obvious where the blame for this event lies – a universal condemnation, not an investigation is what is needed.
My most sincere best wishes.