Deadline for UN probe into deadly flotilla raid again postponed

A UN inquiry into the Mavi Marmara tragedy has again postponed the release of its report. The deadline for the UN probe, announced last August, has been postponed once more to April. The Turkish side remains anxious to finish the inquiry before May 31, the first anniversary of the deadly incident. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had set a deadline of mid-September last year for the panel to submit a first progress report. Chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, the panel included an Israeli and a Turk among its four members. Turkey handed its own report into the incidents on Sept. 1, as both countries were asked to present their national inquiries to the panel by that date. Israel's acquiescence to cooperating with the UN probe was unprecedented, and came as a result of months of negotiations on the panel's mandate. Yet as Israel has not presented the panel its own investigation report, the deadline for the work of the panel was postponed to the end of February. As Israel continued to delay its report, which is finally expected to be delivered in the second half of this month, the deadline of the panel's work was again postponed to late March-early April. The panel plans to start work in the second week of February. "We don't want any more delays. The panel's work should finish before May 31," said a Turkish official familiar with the process.