IHH President Bulent Yildrim said on Thursday that his organization and the
Mavi Marmara ship would participate in an upcoming flotilla to Gaza.
He added that when his organization sends a ship in June, it will be "more prepared" than it was last year, when the IDF boarded the ship. The flotilla headed for Gaza will carry light aircraft.
RELATED:Netanyahu asks UN's Ban to help stop Gaza flotilla in May'Apology and compensation for flotilla raid are red line'"This is not Israel's Mediterranean Sea," Yildrim said, according to Turkish newspaper
Zaman. "We are not afraid to become martyrs."
He added that "for years [Israel] attacked but showed themselves to be
innocent. 'We're dying,' they said. 'We're justified,' they said.
'Palestinian children threw stones at us,' they said. The world believed
it."
Speaking at an event called the "
Mavi Marmara Support and Solidarity
Memorial Night," Yildrim reportedly mentioned the Israelis who spend
their vacations in Turkey, saying that "on behalf of the martyrs" the
government should not let them visit the country "without entering
prison."
Yildrim reportedly said that he "will show the whole world the true face of Israel."
"Zionism has spread like a virus to humanity," the IHH President explained.