Lawrence of Cyberia graciously provided an obituary on the nine Turkish peace activists who died on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. They were all Turkish citizens. In retrospect, one can only imagine how they, like others aboard the flotilla, were affected by the Gaza massacre of December 2008, when Israel killed 1,400 Palestinians, especially the more than 300 children who died. The pictures were heartbreaking.
We all saw those pictures. Yet only a few of us, like those who died on the Mavi Marmara, were inspired enough to act. So these now dead activists joined an humanitarian aid convoy. They ended up dying for their principles. In the terminology of Islam, they died martyrs.
A brief introduction to the nine Turkish people shot dead on 31 May 2010, by Israeli soldiers who attacked the Turkish vessel M.V. Mavi Marmara, as it attempted to transport humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip.
1.Ibrahim Bilgen, 61, an electrical engineer from Siirt. Member of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey. Married with 6 children.
2. Ali Haydar Bengi, 39, ran a telephone repair shop in Diyarbakir. Graduate of Al-Azhar University, Cairo (Department of Arabic Literature). Married to Saniye Bengi; four children.
3. Cevdet Kiliçlar, 38, from Kayseri. Originally a journalist, worked for the past year as webmaster for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). Married to Derya Kiliçlar; two children. He participated in an IHH African relief project.
4. Çetin Topçuoglu, 54, from Adana. Former amateur soccer player and taekwondo champion, who coached Turkey’s national taekwondo team. Married with one son, Aytek. His wife, Çigdem Topçuoglu, was also aboard the Mavi Marmara, but survived.
5. Necdet Yildirim, 32, an IHH aid worker from Malatya. Married with a three-year-old daughter.
6. Fahri Yaldiz, 43, a firefighter who worked for the Municipality of Adiyaman. Married with four children.
7. Cengiz Songür, 47, from Izmir. Married to Nurcan Songür; six daughters, one son.
8. Cengiz Akyüz, 41, from Iskenderun. Married to Nimet Akyüz ; three children – Furkan (14), Beyza (12) and Erva Kardelen (nine).
9. Furkan Dogan, 19, student at Kayseri High School; hoped to become a doctor. Son of Dr. Ahmet Dogan, Assoc Prof at Erciyes University. A Turkish-American dual national, with two siblings.
Check out Lawrence of Cyberia’s link above for further information about these dead Turkish peace activists.
Thanks Diane.
