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"The Turkish ship Mavi Marmara will continue to challenge the Gaza blockade
... Whenever the Palestinians need it, the Mavi Marmara will go..."
In mid June, Bülent Yıldırım, chairman of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, declared that the “Mavi Marmara” ship, which was hard hit in the Israeli raid, could not take part in the “Freedom flotilla II” but will “definitely set sail for Gaza when it completes repair and maintenance works.” Was it a realistic decision for the flotilla organizers to set sail without the “Mavi Marmara”? Huseyin Oruç, deputy of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation explains his position in this interview.
Silvia Cattori: How many Turks are here in Athens waiting to sail with the “Freedom flotilla”?
Huseyin Oruç: We are about twenty people from Turkey ready to participate in the “Freedom flotilla II” in different ships. There are only a few places in the boats. In each boat there is a Turkish participant. We have people in the Canadian boat, the Spanish boat, the French boat, the Greek boat, the International boat.
Silvia Cattori: So, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has not withdrawn from the “Freedom flotilla II” as reported by many commentators? Is that correct?
Huseyin Oruç: We did not withdraw from the coalition. We are part of the coalition. We officially are continuing to support the “Freedom flotilla”. IHH is one of the members of the Steering Committee of the “Flotilla 2”. I am the deputy of IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation) and a coordinator of the “Freedom flotilla.” The only thing is that the “Mavi Marmara” ship could not join the vessels in this second mission of the “Freedom Flotilla” since repair and maintenance works on the ship have not been completed.
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