Turkey expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza flotilla row

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Sat Sep 03, 2011 13:14

and the panel producing it(including that bastion of human rights, senor Uribe of Colombia) call it legal. But other UN authorities, including the UN Human Rights Council, have already, as far as I understand it, decided it is illegal. Turkey is correct, the report is a Widgery whitewash.

alethonews.wordpress.com have a piece from Electronic Intafada breaking it down.

by pat c Sat Sep 03, 2011 19:55

Well put.

Heres a report by Gul Jammas Hussain

UN Allows Israel To Get Away With Murder

The long-awaited United Nations inquiry into Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, on May 31, 2010 has ruled that Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is both legal and appropriate
http://www.countercurrents.org/hussain030911.htm

by pat c Tue Sep 06, 2011 13:11

Turkey steps up action against Israel.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country is suspending trade defence ties with Israel.

The move follows the expulsion of Israel's ambassador over its refusal to apologise for the 2010 raid on a flotilla of activists heading for Gaza, in which nine Turks were killed.

A UN report has concluded that Israel used "excessive force" in its raid, but that the naval blockade was legal.

Turkey has vowed to take the case to the International Court of Justice.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey was "totally suspending" defence industry ties with Israel, after downgrading diplomatic relations with the country.

"Trade ties, military ties, regarding defence industry ties, we are completely suspending them," he told reporters in Ankara. "This process will be followed by different measures."

Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador on 2 September and also suspended military co-operation with Israel last week.

by A Freeman Tue Sep 06, 2011 20:35

Maybe the Israelis are better off to end an alliance with a country that in its previous guise (Ottoman Empire) carried out the first large scale genocide of the twentieth century?, with its mass deportation of over 2 million Armenians and Assyrian Christians to desert concentration camps where they were starved, abused and most were subsequently murdered. Of course, there's also the small matter of the blockade they've maintained against the Armenians since the early 1990s and their ongoing denial of their WW1 war crimes.

by Fruitcakes Wed Sep 07, 2011 06:40

you talk about turks and armenians and blockades, desert prisons etc. The only difference with Israelis and palestinians here is scale! Also, turks don't have 200 nuclear weapons.

The Israelis are pretty nutty and have shown themselves well capable of going across the line. Who knows how far they will go when they feel threatened. The evidence is not promising. Perhaps when we look back from our destroyed irradiated ciities in the future, turkey will look pretty harmless by comparison.

by pat c Wed Sep 07, 2011 17:42

I'm sure you don't deserve that title. A Freeman (sic) always posts in favour of Zionism & Imperialism. Don't get het up by him.

The important thing is to be consistent in your Anti-Imperialism. Kurdish children bleed just as much as Palestinian children. Remember, Turkey has a problem with Israel now but for decades it was Israels military ally:

Speaking to reporters in Ankara yesterday, Erdogan confirmed Turkey was freezing military trade ties. “Trade ties, military ties, regarding defence industry ties, we are completely suspending them,” he said.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0907/122....html

In this case our enemies enemy is also the enemy of the Kurdish people.

by pat c Thu Sep 08, 2011 14:45

I have consistently opposed the NATO bombing of Libya.

Just recently I published the following stories on Indymedia.ie:

NATO War In LIbya

James Turley looks at developments in Libya: the divisions among the rebels, how most of the Left opposed NATO intervention. More at link.

As it threatened, briefly, to do this spring, the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi has collapsed. The forces previously known as the Libyan rebels have seized power in most of the country, including the capital, Tripoli - assisted, of course, by months of aerial bombardment by Britain, France and America.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100468

Libyan humanitarian disaster deepens as NATO, opposition continue offensive

Latest on Libyan situation.: 52 more airstrikes by NATO and truce talks continue in some areas. Tense situation in Tripoli as water is restored to some.

The humanitarian crisis in Libya is deepening as NATO-backed forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) continue their offensive to crush forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, with the assistance of NATO bombing and special forces troops.

Yesterday AFP reported artillery fire as NTC prepared to attack Surt, Gaddafi’s home city in the center of Libya’s Mediterranean coast. Surt was heavily bombed on Sunday, with NATO concentrating most of its 52 airstrikes on Libya that day on the city.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100467

by pat c Thu Sep 08, 2011 15:41

Palestine meeting. More info at link.

Public Meeting: Thursday, 15 September 2011, 19:30 The Teachers' Club (Room 6), 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

This month the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) will go to the UN seeking membership for the ‘State of Palestine’, based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. This initiative, which is supported by many Palestinians and solidarity groups, but also opposed – or at least viewed with circumspection – by others, has generated much discussion in the media and amongst activists.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100471