Bartamaha (Istanbul):-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israeli forces acted like Somali pirates in their bloody attack on the Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of piracy for its assault against the Freedom Flotilla relief mission which intended to break the three-year siege on the Gaza Strip.

Speaking on the state-run TRT television from the central city of Konya, Erdogan mocked Israel for being frightened by the wheelchairs that were aboard the vessels.

Eight Turkish nationals and one US citizen of Turkish descent were among those who lost their lives in the Israeli attack on the six-ship fleet on Monday. Some 680 activists were detained and subsequently deported. Three activists are still missing.

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Erdogan said Hamas was a resistance movement not a “terrorist” one, adding that the group had been democratically elected.

“Hamas are resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land. They have won an election … I have told this to US officials… I do not accept Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think the same today. They are defending their land,” he said.

The recent killing of Turkish nationals has outraged Ankara, prompting Erdogan’s second-in-command Bulent Arinc to say on Friday that the incident might push Turkey to reduce its relations with Israel to “a minimum” in the economic and defense areas.
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Source:- Press TV

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