Ankara, June 14: Turkey has dismissed an internal Israeli inquiry into Tel Aviv’s Gaza aid attack, saying it has “no trust” that the Israeli investigation team will act impartially.
“We have no trust at all that Israel…that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation,” AFP quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Monday.
Israeli navy commandos on May 31 launched a deadly onslaught on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters as it was heading toward the besieged Gaza Strip.
The attack killed 20 activists, including eight Turks and a dual Turkish-US national, accompanying the six-seep aid convoy and left more than 40 others wounded.
Defying repeated international calls for a transparent and credible probe into the incident, Israel has announced an internal investigation to probe the legal aspects of the deadly operation.
The probe is far from what the international community has been demanding as it includes only two international observers who will have the right to vote on the proceedings and conclusions of the commission.
Ankara insists that the investigation should be carried out impartially “under the direct control of the United Nations,” and that any such commission must be participated by both “Turkey and Israel,” Davutoglu stressed.
Israel’s cabinet on Monday approved the creation of an “independent public commission” a day after it was announced by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
———Agencies