by Editor (Editor's Desk, Crescent International Vol. 45, No. 5, Ramadan, 1437)
Turkish President Recept Tayip Erdogan has caved in to US-Zionist pressure and accepted an insulting offer of $20 million as compensation for the victims of Zionist crimes on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010. He also restored diplomatic and trade links with the Zionist entity without getting the siege of Gaza that he had made so much noise about.
Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan has walked a long way from Davos where he had stormed out of a panel discussion with then Israeli President Shimon Peres in protest over the killing of innocent Palestinians, to Rome where Turkish and Israeli officials concluded a deal on June 26. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the deal for its “strategic importance” to Israel while the newly-minted Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim held his own press conference in Ankara to announce the deal.
For the paltry sum of $20 million as compensation to the families of nine victims of the Mavi Marmara that Israeli commandos had murdered in cold blood on May 31, 2010, Turkey surrendered its right to prosecute Israeli commanders for war crimes. Not surprisingly, Netanyahu was elated. He also gets to resume normal trade relations with Turkey although these were not affected in any significant way despite the Israeli crime.
Further, Turkey caved in on the lifting of Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza. Aid to the beleaguered Gazans would still be delivered through Israeli ports and not directly to Gaza. In return, Ankara promised to urge Hamas to provide information about two Israeli soldiers and two civilians missing in Gaza.
Operating in the background, US Vice President Joe Biden, a well-known Zionist, had worked overtime to persuade Turkey to accept the deal with Israel. Erdogan, like Arabian rulers in the region, caved in. What a shame!
