Turkey is putting four former Israeli military commanders, including the head of the army, on trial in absentia this week for the 2010 killing of nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship.
The trial, which begins in Istanbul on Tuesday, will further test relations between the one-time strategic allies and has been dismissed by Israel as a "show trial" and "political theatre."
Turkey has demanded a formal apology, compensation for victims and the families of the dead and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted.
Israel has voiced "regret," short of the full apology demanded, and has offered to pay into what it called a "humanitarian fund" through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.
IHH, the Turkish Islamic humanitarian agency which owns the Mavi Marmara, has said it expects the Turkish court to issue arrest warrants for the retired officers who would be obliged to be extradited to Turkey, a claim dismissed by Israel.
Turkey indicts IDF commanders over Gaza flotilla deaths - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Turkey opens up kangaroo court proceedings!
Can those responsible for the attack on the Kurds be indicted?
Turkey stepping up its attacks on Kurds in Iraq
Reports paint desperate picture of life in Syria
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Reports paint desperate picture of life in Syria
By:
ICEJ News
Posted on:
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 +0200
Recent days have seen an intensification of violence on the border between Turkey and the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, with air strikes by the Turkish air force killing as many as 25 Kurdish rebels in response to attacks by rebels inside Turkey which Ankara says are being directed from Iraqi territory. "An air operation has been staged against 14 targets of the separatist terrorist organization in the north of Iraq between September 5 and 9," the Turkish chief of staff said in an online statement. The Army also announced on Monday that 373 Kurdish rebels and 88 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the fighting this year. Turkey has been fighting an insurgency against its indigenous Kurdish population for decades but fears the violence may intensify as armed groups receive aid and encouragement from increasingly restive Kurdish populations in Iran and Syria.
Click here for a report on Turkish Foreign Policy in the 21st Century (PDF)
In related news, witnesses on the nearby border between Turkey and Syria have reported that Turkish troops have begun turning away refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria. Heavy fighting in the city of Aleppo, just a few kilometers south of the border has caused a large swelling in the number of refugees, but Turkish officials say theyÂ’re already hosting over 120,000 refugees and simply canÂ’t take in any more.
Meanwhile, reports from within Syria paint a desperate picture, with most of the hospitals in large cities either destroyed, closed or overwhelmed with wounded and dying people and heavy fighting between troops loyal to the regime of president Bashar Assad and rebel factions, some of which are also fighting each other.
“The complexity of the crisis is one of the aspects which sets it apart and the speed with which people have fled Syria,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.
UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi was in Cairo to meet exiled opposition leaders and diplomats from several interested governments on Tuesday, ahead of a planned trip to Damascus later this week.