Turkish court drops flotilla raid case against Israel

ISTANBUL

A court in Istanbul on Dec. 9 dropped the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid case that saw charges being brought against four Israeli suspects, including the then chief of Israeli General Staff, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The Istanbul 7th Court of Serious Crimes board said in its verdict that it dropped the case citing an article of the procedural agreement on compensation between Turkey and Israel for the 2010 incident.

It also ordered the lifting of arrest warrants and red notices on suspects in the case.

On Dec. 2, the prosecutor in the case had demanded the case's dismissal, pointing to the reconciliation deal between Ankara and Tel Aviv.

The indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had sought nine aggravated life sentences for then-Israeli Chief of Staff Rau Aluf Gabriel Ashkenazi, naval forces commander Elizer Alfred Marom, intelligence head Amos Yadlin and air force commander Avishay Levi, on charges of instigating homicide, as well as up to a total of 18,032 years in prison for each of the four suspects on charges of instigating damage to property, instigating plunder, instigating torture, instigating prevention of communication, instigating deprivation of liberty and instigating armed injury. Other charges included perpetrating damage to property, robbery, torture, blocking communication and deprivation of freedom.

Turkey-Israel relations came to breaking point after Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which was aiming to break a naval blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in May 2010, killing 10 Turkish activists on board. 

After six years, Israel apologized for the raid, paying out $20 million to the bereaved and injured as a part of the rapprochement deal signed between the two countries on June 28.