U.S. shares concerns with Turkey on plans to send new aid flotilla to Gaza

WASHINGTON (A.A) - 01.06.2011 - A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that his country had shared its concerns with Turkey regarding the plans to send a new aid flotilla to Gaza.
Replying to questions during a daily press briefing in Washington, Deputy Spokesman Mark C. Toner of the U.S. Department of State said, "We have been in consultation with the Turkish Government about this. We have shared our concerns".
Commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's recent remarks stating that "democratic states could not stop any flotilla and the Turkish government had no influence on NGOs", Toner said, "That may very well be the case. These are independently operating NGOs. But what I think our concern is we don't want to see another situation arise where people are put at risk."
Last year in May, an Israeli raid on Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in an aid flotilla headed for Gaza, killed nine Turks and wounded many others.
The UN Human Rights Council set up an international fact-finding mission in June 2010 to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attack on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.
Turkish aid organization IHH has recently announced that it was planning to send a second flotilla comprising of 15 ships and around 1,500 activists from more than 100 countries to Gaza by end-June.
(DO-MS)