One of the victims of a 2010 Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship has filed a lawsuit for compensation against the Turkish Finance Ministry for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages he sustained due to the attack, the Hürriyet daily reported on Tuesday.
Muhyettin Yıldırım, who filed the case against the ministry at the İstanbul Civil Court of First Instance, is one of dozens of people who were injured in the Israeli attack, which claimed the lives of 10 people.
Israeli commandoes stormed the Mavi Marmara while it was in international waters on its way to take humanitarian aid to Gaza on May 31, 2010.
Yıldırım is seeking compensation of TL 2,000 for pecuniary damages and TL 1 million in non-pecuniary damages from the Finance Ministry.
Yıldırım’s lawyer, Mehmet Alagöz, said his client filed the compensation suit against the Finance Ministry because he cannot file a case against Israel due to a deal Turkey and Israel made.
Turkey and Israel, whose diplomatic relations were suspended after the Mavi Marmara attack, normalized relations in August 2016 after the Turkish Parliament approved a deal for Israel to pay compensation to families of people killed in the attack.
Parliament in August 2016 approved the bill that instructed Israel to pay $20 million to the families as part of a normalization agreement between the two countries struck in July 2016 after a six-year freeze in relations.
In September 2016, Israel deposited $20 million in the account of the Turkish Ministry of Justice as compensation for families of people killed in the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
Alagöz said Yıldırım had to remain in the hospital for three days due to his injuries after the attack, has required treatment for years and is still experiencing the traumatic effects of the incident.
ERDOĞAN PROMISES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL AFTER ELECTIONS
Meanwhile, amid a diplomatic row between Ankara and Tel Aviv over the killing of more than 60 Palestinians last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday said Turkey would take economic steps against Israel after elections on June 24.
“We will evaluate our relations, especially economic and trade relations [with Israel] again. We will take steps in this direction after the elections,” Erdoğan told a group of journalists on the presidential plane returning from a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Recalling that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had taken a decision to recommend a boycott of Israeli products, Erdoğan said, “I hope OIC countries will take steps in line with the recommendation.”
Last week President Erdoğan called an extraordinary summit of the OIC and a large public rally to protest the Israeli government for the killing of over 60 Palestinians on May 14.
The rally took place on Friday ahead of the OIC emergency meeting in İstanbul, which concluded that an international protection force must be developed for the Palestinian people. The OIC also declared that action must be taken against countries and individuals that follow the example of the US in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Despite Erdoğan’s move to hold the summit and rally to protest Israel and the US, TankerTrackers.com revealed that an oil tanker had carried more than a million barrels of oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon on May 19.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavulşoğlu also said on Tuesday that Israel would pay for killing dozens of Palestinian last week, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“If Israel does not pay for the terror it has committed, it will continue to act with impunity. That’s why Israel will pay,” Çavuşoğlu said during a meeting in the Manavgat district of Antalya province.
Çavuşoğlu also said they would be following a case in the International Criminal Court (ICC) submitted by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki.
Al-Malki on Tuesday requested that the ICC investigate Israel’s settlement building and alleged war crimes.
A motion proposing the annulment of economic, military and political agreements between Turkey and Israel was voted down by President Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its election ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in Parliament on May 17.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on May 15 called on Muslim countries to reassess their ties with Israel, the day after Israeli security forces killed over 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border.
President Erdoğan on May 14 called Israel a “terror state” and added that “the assault on the Gaza protesters exposed Israel’s ugly face, one that is carrying out genocide in Gaza.”
Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel ordered a freeze on the import of agricultural products from Turkey following the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Ankara and statements made by Erdoğan, Israelnationalnews.com reported on Tuesday. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
