on board Mavi Marmara
on board Mavi MarmaraFlash 90

One of the chief activists on the Mavi Marmara flotilla has announced that the Turkish government should have taken measures to prevent the activists from attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2010.

“What is the importance of the apology? ‘We killed nine people and are sorry’ – of course it sounds ridiculous. I say this is what the state should have done. If only it had prevented this at the start. But we asked for it. We went there ourselves,” said actor Sinan Albayrak in remarks to daily Aksam, following the recent Israeli apology over the incident.

Some are suggesting that those who were on the Mavi Marmara should bring charges against the Turkish government, rather that the State of Israel, seeing as a prominent personality on the ship now says it could have prevented them from trying to breach the Israeli blockade, Front Page Magazine reported.

Meanwhile, reports emerged on Saturday that Turkey, along with Tunisia and Egypt, rejected plans to hold a meeting of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue group, as Israel is one of the Dialogue group’s seven member-nations.

Last month, following President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for the nine Turkish deaths in the Mavi Marmara incident. Turkish citizens were killed in a clash between activists and soldiers after armed men on board the ship attacked soldiers who boarded the ship with the intention of turning it aside.

Turkey, in turn, agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, but then asked Israel to delay sending a delegation to Turkey to discuss issues relating to the restoring of relations. The delegation, which had been scheduled to leave for Ankara at the start of the month, is now scheduled to depart on April 22.