ISTANBUL
A Turkish lawyer representing victims of the fatal 2010 Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla has welcomed an International Criminal Court decision to hear new testimony.
Cihat Gokdemir said Wednesday that the Hague-based human rights court’s preliminary investigation bureau had accepted their legal application and decided to hear from all those who were onboard during the attack.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency Gokdemir recalled how the court refused a previous application.
In November last year, the court announced it would not investigate the maritime incident between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces due to a lack of "sufficient gravity."
Stating that they made a new application in the name of Comoros Islands, where the Mavi Marmara was registered, Gokdemir said that in their earlier application the court accepted that Israel committed a “war crime” during the raid.
After their application was rejected, Gokdemir added, they filed an appeal to the court’s preliminary investigation bureau.
“The preliminary investigation bureau evaluated our application and decided to hear all the victims who were on the ship during the attack,” he said, adding: “This is a very important development. All the victims will go to court to testify.”
In May 2010, Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in a raid on the Mavi Marmara, a ship that was part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.” Another died in a Turkish hospital in 2014 after being in a coma for almost four years.
The convoy was led and established by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation and was carrying aid and construction materials for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was under an Israeli blockade at the time.
Neither Turkey nor Israel are signatories to the ICC.
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