IHH’s Response to Israel: Israel is running a cheap black propaganda campaign

Huseyin Oruc, member of IHH’s Administrative Board, held a press conference in response to Israel as it accused two IHH employees of supporting terrorist groups. Oruc said “As if the terrorist attack Israel carried towards civilians and unarmed human rights activists and humanitarian aid workers is not enough, now it is slandering these people. This is cheap black propaganda, based on lies and defamation.” Together with two doctors who were onboard Mavi Marmara, Oruc continued “We provided medical treatment for Israeli soldiers, they killed even those injured friends of ours in return.”

07.06.2010 - IHH’s Response to Israel: Israel is running a cheap black propaganda campaign

IHH (The Foundation For Human Rights And Freedoms And Humanitarian Relief) held a press conference regarding Israel’s claims that “There are two employees of Mavi Marmara who are related to terrorist organizations.”

A member of IHH’s Administrative Board, Huseyin Oruc, who is accused of supporting Al Qaida members and Hasan Aynaci, IHH’s representative to the Middle East, who is accused of financially supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization were both present at the press meeting in addition to medical doctors Mevlut Yurtseven and Ercan Kayrak who were onboard Mavi Marmara and provided medical treatment to Israeli soldiers.

Huseyin Oruc, who said that no allegations regarding a bond with terrorist organizations was mentioned during their interrogation in Israel, asked “If they are claiming this, why have they not asked about it during the interrogations in Israel?”

Oruc, at the press conference at IHH headquarters in Fatih, went on to say: “Firstly, I would like to say that, terrorist government of Israel is going down even further. As if the terrorist attack Israel carried towards civilians and unarmed human rights activists and humanitarian aid workers is not enough, now it is slandering these people. This is cheap black propaganda, based on lies and defamation.”

He explained IHH organization

Oruc, accused of supporting terrorist organizations, talked about IHH:

“IHH, The Foundation For Human Rights And Freedoms And Humanitarian Relief, is a non-governmental organization established in Turkey by civilians in accordance with the law. Its financial status and activities go under regular inspections by the General Directorate for Foundations of the Prime Ministry of Turkey. IHH Foundation was awarded ‘the best organization working suitably towards its goal’ by the General Directorate for Foundations and also received an Honorary Award from the Turkish Parliament.”

“IHH has been accredited by the U.N. as an NGO with consultative status at the General Assembly's Economic and Social Council and is also member of numerous international framework organizations for humanitarian aid and human rights. Those organizations run joint aid activities in 120 countries regardless of religion, language, gender, ideology and regional differences. Palestine is only one of those countries in which IHH runs humanitarian aid activities.

We embarked on our journey on behalf of humanity’s common conscience.

Just like IHH’s other activities, Freedom Flotilla was also a humanitarian aid campaign and it was a collective work by civilians. Dozens of organizing NGOs from 32 countries included IHH. All the organizers as well as IHH were on their way to show that the common conscience of humanity has not perished yet.

Then, what happened? Israeli government carried a terrorist attack on these unarmed civilians in international waters. Several of those people were martyred and some others were injured. The rest were arrested and subjected to inhumane mistreatment and were tortured.

Only terrorists would act like Israel did

All these acts are crimes against humanity. Only terrorists and mean-spirited people would act like this. Indeed, they did.

One should also note this: Israeli terrorists harassed us before they board the ship, they opened fire on us. They used smoke grenades, gas canisters and things like that. They fired live ammunition. Especially when descending from the helicopter, they opened heavy fire upon us. Some of our friends martyred right at that point, some others were wounded.

All we did was an act of self-defense

Now, they shamelessly claim that the activists attacked the soldiers. From hundreds of meters distance, they opened fire. When boarding the ship from the inflatables and descending from the helicopters, they kept on firing live rounds. All we did was an act of self-defense. Self-defense is rightful. It has been accepted as a lawful act under all legal systems throughout the history.  Israeli terrorists who were firing upon us at that point got wounded. We have taken them to our doctors. We returned them to their friends after providing treatment. What have they done in return? They shot the doctor who treated wounded terrorists. This was the worst moment the humanity has experienced in history. They shot a doctor who deserved nothing but a medal of honor for his humanitarian acts.

Israel runs a black propaganda campaign

Israel is trying to cover all this up. They run a black propaganda campaign. However, no one would believe their lies.

Here we are, open to all sorts of inspection and investigation. Our work is in accordance with the international law. Can Israel possibly claim to be doing so as well?

Can they declare that they are open to international investigation and inspection?

No. But why? Because they know that they are guilty. Terrorist government of Israel will receive a sharp negative response from its people of conscience and will certainly go down. Another negative response will arrive from the international community and Israel will be convicted of its crimes. They are trying to escape this, but they won’t be able to.”

When they shot Furkan dead, he was already wounded

“19 year-old Furkan Dogan, also a national of the U.S., was already wounded when he was taken by the Israeli soldiers” said Huseyin Oruc. He went on to say “It turned out that they shot Furkan in the head 4 times from a distance of 45 centimeters. Four bullets were found in his head. Israeli soldiers killed even those who were already wounded. In contrast, we returned their soldiers after giving medical treatment to them.”

Israel claims that Hasan Aynaci is providing financial support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization, Aynaci said “I work at IHH. I have not given financial support to any organization. If they are serious about their claim, they shall document the evidence.”

Ercan Kayrak, M.D. : We kept people alive, Israel committed murder.

Doctor Ercan Kayrak who was onboard Mavi Marmara said “I, personally, gave medical treatment to injured Israeli soldiers. I helped 3 Israeli soldiers. When returning the soldiers back to their colleagues, they shot me in my chest and in my shoulder. If my friends did not pull me back inside, I was going to become a martyr as well. Israeli soldiers had not come to arrest us, they had come to kill us.”

As a doctor I felt helpless

Mevlut Yurtseven, M.D. said “My job is to keep people alive. However, within 20 minutes I witnessed a planned mass murder. I helped the wounded using limited medicines and medical supplies onboard. I felt really helpless. Israeli soldiers killed 9 friends of ours. But, we did not kill even a single soldier. Besides, we gave medical treatment to Israeli soldiers. We have 9 martyrs and 50 wounded people. They did not even give us stretchers to carry the injured. I will never forget what I experienced there as a doctor.”