Erdogan: "It's high time to lift the Gaza blockade"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday criticized Israel for not agreeing to the establishment of an independent committee to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters last week, which left nine Turkish peace activists dead. Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad on the sidelines of a two-day summit of Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) which began at Istanbul's Ciragan Palace, Erdogan added that it's high time that Israel end its blockade on the Gaza Strip. Calling Israel's use force against civilians inexcusable, Erdogan also dismissed its account of what happened during the raid. "Israel's excuses (for the incident) are far from believable," he said. "There were peace activists from 32 countries on board the (aid) ships (in the flotilla). They are bothered by a guilty conscience, and trying to cover the truth." Stating that Israel feels impunity from international law in its disproportionate use of force, Erdogan said, "The blockade around Gaza should be completely lifted. This open-air prison should come to an end. We cannot tolerate the inhumane mass punishment of the people of Gaza. We will be closely following developments on this." He also emphasized that both the Mavi Marmara – the Turkish-registered lead ship in last week's flotilla – and the Rachel Corrie – another Gaza-bound aid ship recently intercepted by Israeli naval forces – were transporting humanitarian help to the Gaza Strip and had nothing to do with terrorism, rejecting Israeli claims that there were passengers on board the Mavi Marmara illegally. He also thanked Syria for supporting an international investigation of the incident. Assad, for his part, expressed condolences for the slain peace activists, and voiced support for peace and stability in the region as well as an international commission to investigate the incident. The Syrian leader also emphasized the historic ties between Turkey and Damascus.