Ankara: "An Israeli inouiry into flotilla attack would fall short of the world's expectations"

Ankara yesterday again strongly condemned Israel's snub of a UN proposal for a full international investigation of its own forces' lethal raid on a Gaza aid flotilla last month, while urging the international community, and particularly the US, to increase pressure on Israel to agree to this proposal. Ankara also reiterated that it would take "certain measures" should Israel continue to refuse the UN proposal. The Israeli Cabinet met Monday to form a commission to carry out an Israeli inquiry into the raid on the Gaza aid flotilla, which left nine Turks dead, while responding to international demands for impartiality by putting two foreign observers on the panel. "Israel's declaration that it will set up a commission composed of Israeli citizens and two foreign observers in order to investigate the Israeli raid against the Freedom Flotilla does not in any way meet Turkey's clear demands or the international community's expectations, which were expressed in the Presidential Statement of the United Nations Security Council," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. "An inquiry by such a commission cannot be impartial, fair, transparent or credible," the ministry said, because, "Israel does not have the authority to assign a national commission to investigate a crime perpetrated in international waters." Telling how Turkey has indeed already agreed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal to establish an international commission made up one Turkish, one Israeli and three international experts, the statement added: "We strongly condemn Israel's disregard of this proposal to date. We expect that the international community, and above all the US, which lost a citizen of its own (in the attack), will support this constructive proposal by the UN secretary-general and take action in that direction without delay." Speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting, in which Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave a briefing on the latest developments on the issue, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek echoed the Foreign Ministry statement. "Today we discussed measures which will be taken if Israel rejects the UN secretary-general's proposal, because those people who lost their lives are our citizens," he said. "A commission set up unilaterally by Israel will not satisfy us." He added that the currently unspecified measures against Israel would be announced within days in light of developments, and in particular according to Israel's stance on the UN proposal.