Turkey urges world to not let last year's deadly Israeli raid on Mavi Marmara be forgotten

A high-level session in Geneva on Monday of the UN Human Rights Council devoted to Libya offered Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu an opportunity to renew Turkey's call for the world not to forget Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship last year. "Following the Israeli assault that targeted the humanitarian aid flotilla on May 31, 2010, the council, to its credit, reacted without delay and without hesitation," Davutoglu told the council. "It held an urgent debate and dispatched an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law resulting from the Israeli attacks. Some members of the council voted against establishment of the fact-finding mission. Others abstained. However, in the end, wisdom prevailed. I salute those who acted as the council's true conscience. To those who voted no or abstained, let me say: Such positions carry the risk of emboldening countries who persistently violate human rights. One day others may follow suit. In the end it may be one or more of your countrymen whose rights are violated in the gravest manner. On that day it will be those countries that look upon this council for solutions. (…) Unfortunately, the New York process, the Palmer Commission [UN probe of the raid] has not produced results. Israel is using this mechanism to push the issue into oblivion and prevent the international community from taking action." For her part, Davutoglu's US counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told the council that it must abandon its bias against Israel, as it undermines its work. Davutoglu and Clinton on Monday held an hour-long meeting during which they discussed developments in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen as well as Iran's nuclear program. The two also talked about Clinton's visit to Turkey, expected later this month.