Turkey on Wednesday called on Israel to release three members of parliament detained after Israeli forces intercepted boats headed for the Gaza Strip.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international activist group, said all nine of its boats were stopped by the Israeli navy as they attempted to break the blockade of Gaza. The coalition said the vessels were carrying more than $110,000 worth of medicine, respiratory equipment and nutritional supplies for hospitals in the territory.
Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the action as “an act of piracy” and “an attack on civil activists, including Turkish citizens and members of parliament.”
“This is a serious violation of international law. Our three MPs and all activists illegally detained must be released immediately and unconditionally,” Sena Nur Çelik Kanat, a lawmaker from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), told Agence France-Presse.
Kanat was among more than 80 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, who signed a letter demanding the activists’ release.
Israel has blocked several flotillas in recent months. The United Nations says famine has taken hold in Gaza after two years of devastation and shortages caused by Israel’s blockade.
© Agence France-Presse
