The Global Sumud Flotilla's Türkiye delegation announced on Thursday that Israeli authorities have illegally detained 38 Turkish activists during an attack on the fleet, which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
However, nine other activists could not be reached, and the total number of detained Turkish citizens could be as many as 47, the delegation's press unit said in a statement to Anadolu.
According to the delegation, the 38 verified detained activists and their respective vessels are as follows: "(Sirius) Abdulaziz Yalçın, Davut Daşkıran, Zeynep Dilek Tekocak, Ayçin Kantoğlu; (HUGA-A) Mehmet Sait Direkçi, Fatih Özsöz, Tevhit Yıldız; (TR1 Austral) İkbal Gürpınar, Said Ercan, Muhammet E. Işık, Hacı Durak, Bekir Develi, Erdem Özveren, Enes Harman, Sait Karahasan; (Florida-A) Evren Akan, Turgay Turan, Muhammet E. Yıldırım; (Alma) Metehan Sarı, Hüseyin Suayb Ordu, Onur Murat Kolgu, Semih Fener, Osman Çetinkaya, Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu; (Spectre) Bekir Turunç, Abdulmecid Bagcivan, Mustafa M. Çakmakçı, Mesut Çakar, Muslim Ziyali; (Mali/Deir Yassine-A) Sümeyye S. Polat; (Grande Blu) Halil Rıfat Çanakçı; (Morgana) Ersin Çelik, Semanur Sönmez Yaman; (Seulle-A) Yaşar Yavuz, Haşmet Yazıcı, Abdulsamed Turan; (Capten Nikos-A) Umut Aslan, Abdullah Gundem."
Turkish officials are closely monitoring the condition of their citizens aboard the seized vessels.
According to Turkish diplomatic sources, the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv has taken the necessary steps to provide consular protection for the detained citizens, adding that the families of those aboard are being kept informed about the situation.
Sinan Akılotu, a Turkish activist aboard the fleet's Marinette ship, said their vessel is the last one still moving.
"Many activists have been abducted by Israel. The Marinette is the last ship still moving in the Sumud Flotilla. We hope to reach the shores of Gaza as a sign of hope. We are counting on support," he told Anadolu.
Akılotu added that returning is not an option and that Israel has not directly intervened against them.
He noted that some ships entered Gaza's territorial waters, but contact with them has been lost.
"We don't know their exact location. Our own connection was also cut off. We were falling behind due to a technical malfunction on the ship. We are currently about 135 miles from Gaza's territorial waters," he said.
