Israel sees pressure on Turkey to stop Mavi Marmara trial
"I imagine that diplomatic pressure will be put on Turkey to withdraw this action... foreign not Israeli," deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon, told state-run Channel One TV on Monday.
An Istanbul court has unanimously approved an indictment by Turkish prosecutors, who want life sentences for the Israelis for their alleged role in the deadly maritime assault, Turkey's Anatolia new agency said on Monday.
"This could have wide-ranging implications for Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere," Ayalon said.
"For years American and other Western forces have been boarding ships suspected either of terror activity or carrying radioactive materials so that the implications are such that I imagine there will be diplomatic pressure on Turkey," he added.
Israeli commandos boarded the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in a flotilla aimed at breaking Israel's Gaza blockade, on May 31, 2010, leaving nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.
The 144-page indictment called for nine life sentences to be given to each of four Israeli commanders, including former armed forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi.
The date for the trial is not yet announced, but it would be held in the absence of the accused, Israel having ruled out any prosecution of those who took part in the attack.
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If Israel respects the rule of law, it should let the trial go ahead. Firstly the accused are not in Turkey and can't be taken into custody. Secondly they will not travel to Turkey to stand trial. Would they be sentenced in absentia, Israel doesn't have to recognise the verdict and have it implemented. Yet the trial and the verdict are important - out of symbolic point of view - for Turkey to overcome this tragic incident..
Turkey doesnt need NATO what so ever, in fact they're in fact starting to forge alliances throughout the middle east. This is where Turkey will gain their strength and recall its great legacy Ottoman powers once again.
The founder of Turkey is nothing more than a puppet which the British government has placed and he's vision of Turkey will always be rejected by the mass and it has also proven a dramatic failure in the past. The current government is in fact making Turkey more stronger in terms of military and economic.
Helping innocent peoples of GAZA is not helping islamist and by the way they got elected by democratic election and why westren hypocracy when its come to palestien.
Unlike previous Turkish governments that were Western-oriented and secular, the current government is aligned with radical Islamists. It's no accident. President Abdullah Gul and PM Recip Erdogan campaigned for office on a platform of strengthening ties with Islamists and in making religion more prominent in daily life. This is exactly what Turkey's founder, Kemal Ataturk, warned against.
Turkey is an independent country, and of course can conduct its internal affairs as it sees fit. But if the government continues down this path, they will risk their international standing, including their membership in NATO, which they worked so hard to obtain.