Osman Çetinkaya, one of the complainants whose statements were taken at the hearing at the Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court, said that he joined the fleet as a doctor.
Stating that their aim was to carry medical supplies to people in Gaza, but 5-6 boxes of supplies on their ship were confiscated by Israeli soldiers, Çetinkaya stated that they were subjected to ill-treatment at Ashdod Port and that she filed a complaint against the defendants.
Complainant Zeynep Tekocak also stated that she was strip-searched twice and that there was a fight with Israeli soldiers because she refused to remove her headscarf. "They recorded me and made fun of me with the clothes they gave me instead of the headscarf. The soldier who took me said he was from Yozgat. They took our personal belongings, I could not reach any of them. Our privacy was violated very seriously. I am complaining." he said.
The complainant, MP Sema Silkin Ün, stated that after being detained, she and nearly 80 of her friends were kept in an airtight hall, and that an Israeli soldier came and insulted Islam while she was reading the Quran.
Stating that he responded to the Israeli soldier in English, Ün said, "As a member of parliament who brought these issues to the agenda for the first time in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), I hope you will present these things that our friends experienced to your appreciation and do the necessary work. Where we were, we were not even allowed to close our eyes, we were forbidden to sleep. All the police who came there the next day spoke in Hebrew, swearing at Türkiye and us. They used psychological violence. I am complaining." he said.
"I THINK THIS CASE WILL BE WRITTEN IN THE TEXTBOOKS AS THE CASE AGAINST GENOCIDE AND HUMANITY IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS"
In his statement, Rıza Saka, President of the Istanbul Bar Association No. 2, stated that the case in question was historical and said that it was a case that would be a source of pride for Türkiye in the coming years.
Reminding that injunction decisions were made twice in the International Court of Justice upon the application of lawyers in South Africa, Saka stated that these decisions showed that humanity is not dead in the world.
Saka continued as follows:
"I think that this case will be written in the textbooks as a case against genocide and humanity in the following years. We are the whistleblowers of this case. It has been decided to issue an arrest warrant and a red notice for Netanyahu. Although crimes against humanity are universal crimes, the complainants stated that the crimes committed were committed more severely, especially because they were Turkish citizens. Therefore, it is the duty of the judiciary to protect the rights of Turkish citizens in the international arena. But it is also the duty of the bar associations. An example of the file on which a precaution was taken by the International Court of Justice is the United States. "We also demand from the nations to request a copy of the file indicating that genocide was committed in Gaza."
Lawyer Yasin Şamlı also stated that this case was about the murder of 80 thousand people, 70 percent of whom were women and children, and said that it was a case in which "genocide", "crimes against humanity" and "attack" crimes were committed.
Noting that they submitted 8 folders of evidence to the file, Şamlı stated that they submitted 5 folders, especially regarding the genocide of women and children.
NEW INDICTMENT REGARDING ACTIONS TAKEN AGAINST THE PEOPLE IN GAZA
Announcing its interim decision, the court ruled that the red notices and arrest warrants issued for 35 defendants should continue.
The delegation stated that an investigation could be carried out in terms of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity" upon the request of the Minister of Justice, and stated that the actions against the Sumud Flotilla were described in the indictment, but the actions against the civilian population in Gaza were included abstractly and indirectly.
Considering the principle that the court should be bound by the narrative in the indictment, the delegation noted that the evidence submitted to the file by the denouncer Istanbul No. 2 Bar Association and the International Association of Lawyers were evaluated together, and decided to write a warrant to the chief prosecutor's office for the preparation of a new indictment in terms of these crimes, by concretely describing the actions taken against the people in Gaza, apart from the Sumud Flotilla, and associating them with the evidence.
IT WILL BE INVESTIGATED WHETHER THE DEFENDANTS HAVE ASSETS IN Türkiye
The delegation decided to file a criminal complaint to identify the persons mentioned in the statements of the complainants who stated that they were Turkish citizens and took part in the actions against them in Israel and to take necessary action against the crimes charged, and decided to write a warrant to the Ministry of Justice to send the file on which the defendants were tried from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the court.
The court panel ruled to request information from the relevant institutions about whether the defendants have movable assets in Türkiye or not, and decided to request that the report submitted to the United Nations regarding the genocide in Gaza through the Ministry of Justice be sent to the court.
The court panel ruled to accept the requests of the complainants who requested to participate in the case, as well as the Istanbul No. 2 Bar Association Presidency, MAZLUMDER, the International Association of Lawyers and the Earth Lawyers Association, and postponed the hearing to March 30, 2027.
