US senator: "Turkey is responsible for the Gaza aid flotilla"

A US senator has issued a call for Turkey to be held responsible for the planned launching of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla organized by a group he calls a "terrorist organization." In a policy recommendation report, US Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois calls on the US to adopt three measures to deal with the planned Gaza-bound flotilla: labeling the flotilla organizers, the nongovernmental Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a terrorist group; offering US naval support to Israel to block the flotilla; and telling Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey will be held accountable for the flotilla's actions. "The US should ... make it clear to Turkish [Prime Minister] Erdogan that Turkey will be held accountable for any actions that support or enable the IHH to launch its flotilla," the report said. "I don't think that's a fair assessment," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal, reiterating Ankara's position that the aid flotilla is being privately organized by an international group of nongovernmental organizations with no known connections to terrorist groups. The US should "immediately designate the IHH as a terrorist entity under Executive Order 13224, which targets 'terrorists, terrorist organizations, and those providing financial, technological/material support to terrorists, terrorist organizations/acts of terrorism'," according to the Kirk report, entitled "The Future of Israel's Security and the US-Israel Relationship."