First hand account of Israeli attack on Gaza aid convoy at sea
On June 3, 2010, Bülent Yıldırım, president of İHH İnsani Yardım Vakfı, spoke to the media regarding the events aboard the ship the Mavi Marmara during the Israeli attack on the aid convoy. The text of his statement is available to read in Turkish on the website of Radikal, a Turkish newspaper. Below is an English translation of his account of the events. (Translation by Anna Wood.)
Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the flotilla. CC/FreeGaza
There were people from over fifty countries. Among our friends there were a total of thirty-five parliament members, plus many politicians, intellectuals and journalists. We set out with a total of nine ships. A few of the ships were sabotaged along the way. They could not continue. We waited in the sea for a few days. Then we went on with the ships we had. Actually, like all of you, we never sensed that Israel would interfere with us violently. And we couldn’t understand it. Because Israel was saying, “I’m going to come with my whole fleet.” The Israeli press was continually calling us. There was live broadcasting. We were being called from every corner of the world. Among us there were Christians, Jews and Atheists. We were together with people of every belief. We actually never entered Israeli waters. In fact, this was a first in world history. They announced an open-ended operation. They said this as the place of shooting. They said 68 miles. When we looked at our radars, we saw this was a fictional operation. Because the ships were wandering around. Despite this we went in 80 miles. We went in international waters. But Israel did not understand this. Tomorrow or the next day our captain will speak.* We will bring out the documents. Our destination was Egyptian water, to enter Gaza from Egypt. There was nothing to attract their [Israeli] interest.
Despite this, all of a sudden Zodiac ships began to appear in great numbers around us. Helicopters, F16s, five large warships and submarines. We broadcast again. They at least wouldn’t do something this unintelligent, we thought. When the call to prayer was read in the morning, we stopped to pray. Then we realized that they were attacking us from the air, from underwater, from boats, all of which were uncountable. We said to each other that they were just putting on a show. If we had been in their waters, if we had been in waters where pirating actually illegally occurs, or if we had been in Palestinian waters, then they would be able to attack us, we said. Then all of a sudden they began to land. Our friends committed solely civil resistance. The whole press was there. Arm in arm we said, don’t let them in. Then we saw that entering arm-in-arm wasn’t working. While the Israelis interrogated me, I made them a promise. I am a resolute man. When I make a promise, I keep it. For three days they questioned all the units. They asked me, “Are you thinking of attacking us with those irons and axes?” I answered, “You were attacked with irons and chairs. It was legitimate self-defense.” I said I would explain this. I give you my word. In the press conference I will say that our friends defended themselves with the bats they saw there.
At first they were saying they didn’t use weapons. Supposedly they got permission to use weapons, meaning real bullets, in the 35thminute. Well, you immediately threw sound and gas bombs. Pieces of the bombs you threw came off. Most of our friends were wounded. Isn’t this a weapon? We did the statistics. Of the first bullets they shot, two were plastic. One of them resembled a nail. Our brother Cevdet – may God give patience to his loved ones – he was martyred. Our brother Cevdet was a member of the press. While the Israelis were firing above, he was only taking photographs. He was shot from just one meter away, and his brain was in pieces. This wasn’t enough. We realized that news of martyrs was coming from every side. We saw that the bullets they had started shooting were real bullets. Plastic bullets kill, too. Because you’re firing from 1.5-2 meters away. They started shooting real bullets.
