http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=177960
Photo by: IDF Spokesperson. 'Turkish gov't backed extremists' By YAAKOV LAPPIN 06/09/2010 19:32 The IHH operatives maintained close ties with Erdogan, report says. A report released this week by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) said new details have emerged which show how approximately 40 operatives from the Turkish Islamist IHH organization carefully prepared a violent ambush on navy commandos last week on board the Mavi Maramara ship, and acted with the full backing of the Turkish government. The IHH operatives were armed with knives, axes and other weapons, communicated with one another using walkie talkies, set up a control room onboard the ship, and maintained close ties with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the report said. In addition, the Mavi Maramara ship was purchased by the IHH from a major shipping company owned by the Istanbul Municipality, which is run by the ruling AKP party, it has emerged. The ITIC said its report was based on an initial analysis of statements taken from passengers onboard Mavi Marmara after it was towed to the port of Ashdod last week, as well as findings from computers seized by the IDF from IHH members. "The operatives, who acted according to a clearly-defined internal hierarchy, boarded the ship in the port of Istanbul without undergoing a security inspection as opposed to the other passengers, who boarded in Anatolia after a full inspection," the report said. "The IHH operatives' preparations included handing out walkie-talkies as they boarded the ship, taking over the upper deck, setting up a situation room for communications, and a briefing given to the operatives two hours before the confrontation by IHH head Bülent Yildirim, who was on board the ship and commanded his men," it continued. Close relations between IHH and Erdogan The men were armed large quantities of knives, axes, metal cables, metal pipes used as clubs, wrenches, and other weapons, the report said. "They were also equipped with box cutters which had been prepared on the upper deck in advance," it added. "The passengers, including the IHH operatives, stated that there were close relations between the organization and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and that the Turkish government was involved in preparations for the flotilla," the report asserted. A journalist onboard the Mavi Marmara, described as having good links with the heads of the Turkish government and Bulent Yildirim, head of the IHH, had stated, "The flotilla was organized with the support of the Turkish government and Prime Minister Erdogan gave the instructions for it to set sail. That was despite the fact that everyone knew it would never reach its destination," according to the report. Files found in laptops seized from IHH members contained a letter written in Turkish from IHH head Bülent Yildirim to Turkish President Abdullah Gül. The letter requested Gal's assistance in efforts to release an IHH operative, named as Izzat Shahin, from an Israeli prison. Sahin was arrested by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on April 27 on suspicion transferring cash to Hamas under the guise of charitable aid. He has since been deported from Israel "at the request of Turkish officials," the report added. Mavi Marmara purchased from AKP-run municipality of Istanbul A second computer file showed that the "IHH purchased the Mavi Marmara ship from a Turkish company called IDO... which was founded in 1987 by the city of Istanbul." "[The] IHH acquired the Mavi Marmara ship from the AKP-run municipality of Istanbul. It is not conceivable that the IHH's Gaza operation could have been carried out absent high-level government sanction," wrote Svante Cornell, a Swedish security expert who specializes in Eurasia, in an article published on Monday. Cornell, of Stokholm's Central Asia-Caucus Institute, said the IHH was "an example of how NGOs are used in the foreign policy sphere," adding, "The IHH operates joint projects with the Turkish Agency for International Development, and is reported to have been used by the government in order to shore up Turkey's position in northern Iraq by distributing aid to populations there. The IHH has its origins in the Orthodox Islamic Milli Görüs movement, from which the AKP organizationally split in 2001." "As such, the IHH is known as a dyed-in-the-wool Islamist movement, which has been suspected and investigated repeatedly for alleged involvement in arms shipment to Islamic forces in various conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia. Leading former French counter-terror magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière has repeatedly testified that the IHH had 'clear, long-standing ties to terrorism and Jihad', including ties to Al Qaeda in the late 1990s," Cornell added. Ely Karmon, a senior researcher from the Herzliya-based Institute for Counter-Terrorism, told The Jerusalem Post that since coming to power, the AKP party has worked repeatedly to assist the IHH. After being elected into office in 2001, the AKP government ended a major legal investigation into the IHH which had begun 1996 and examined suspicions that the organization transferred weapons and other aid to terrorist organizations around the world, Karmon said. In January, the IHH helped organize a convoy to Gaza which became stranded at El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula after being denied entry into Gaza by Egypt, "Turkey enacted major pressure on Egypt to let the convoy into Gaza. The Egyptians eventually agreed," Karmon added. An Egyptian soldier was killed during clashes between members of the convoy and the Egyptian security forces. Last week, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released footage of statements made by Bulent Yildirim, head of IHH, in Gaza in February 2009. During the speech, which was filled with references to "martyrdom,"Yildirim said, "All the peoples of the Islamic world would want a leader like [Turkish prime minister] Recep Tayyip Erdogan." RELATED: 'Israel agrees to ease blockade' 'Activists should face inquiry ' European Jews demand EU ban on IHH
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