Turkey will never forgive Israel for the killing of Turkish citizens on a Gaza-bound humanitarian convoy by Israeli special forces, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Thursday.
"Relations between Turkey and Israel will never be as they were [before the attack]," Gul said in a televised broadcast. "Israel has made one of the most glaring mistakes in its history, for which it will repent."
Eight out of the nine people confirmed killed in Monday's attack, which took place in neutral waters in the Mediterranean Sea, were Turkish citizens and Thursday saw mass anti-Israeli protests in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, as the country paid last respects to the victims.
Israeli commandos stormed the six-ship Freedom Flotilla off the Gaza coast as it carried some 10,000 tons of aid and up to 700 human rights activists to the Palestinian enclave. Official Israeli reports said nine people were killed in the operation, but Arab media reports put the death toll at close to 20.
Turkey has severely condemned the aggression, saying that it will remain "a black spot" in human history. Following the attack, the country recalled its ambassador from Israel.
"People here think that the raid on the vessels is an outrageous act," Orkun Surucuoglu told RIA Novosti.
"Almost everybody in Turkey condemns this murder. But the protesters in front of the Israeli Consulate and the Israeli Embassy in Ankara are mostly radical Islamists. It is not hard to figure that fact out just by looking at their appearance," the 29-year-old software engineer said.
He said that while he said "no to state terror, no to the Israeli government's outrage, no to Zionism," he also opposed "anti-Semitism and racism."
On Wednesday, the Turkish parliament unanimously adopted a declaration urging the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel over the attack, which it called a "blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law."
The parliament also urged the Turkish government "to review political, military, trade and economic ties with Israel and take the necessary effective measures."
The Freedom Flotilla was trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip even though Israel had warned that it would not allow foreign ships to approach the coast.
Israel said the ships could be carrying arms intended for militants in the Palestinian enclave and offered instead to receive the ships at its port of Ashdod, inspect the cargo and then transport it overland to Gaza.
Many of the 1.5 million people living in Gaza lack sufficient supplies of clean water and other vital items.
The Hamas Islamist movement, which has controlled Gaza since summer 2007, has refused to allow the seized Freedom Flotilla cargo into the enclave until Turkey gives the go-ahead.
ANKARA, June 3 (RIA Novosti)
