Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan, the Prime Minister of the 54th government of Turkey welcomed the board members of IHH who work on organizing a flotilla which will deliver medicines, medical equipment, construction materials such as cement and iron to Palestinian people who suffer under the Israeli embargo.
The committee, members of which are Bulent Yildirim, President of IHH, Durmus Aydin, Vice President, Omer Faruk Korkmaz, Member of the Administrative Board, Ahmet Faruk Unsal, President of Mazlumder (The Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Opressed People), Muhammad Savala, a volunteer of the Gaza cause from the U.K. and various other representatives, paid a visit to Erbakanin his Istanbul residence.
Erbakan, in his address during the visit, referring to IHH’s efforts as a very beneficent mission, said “May Allah be pleased with you all. You are trying to do your best. What you are doing is a kind of fard al-kifaya (a duty which is imposed on the whole community of believers, but whole community is exempt once a sufficient number of people perform the duty). May Allah nurture your beneficence upto the point we are granted with salvation. Despite all the hardships, it is such a beautiful thing that you are doing.”
Pointing out that the campaign will not cure all the oppression permanently, Erbakan emphasized that it is a crucial duty to deliver food and medical aid to the sick and poor. Erbakan continued, “It is a matter of humanity. For a permanent solution, there is no way other than establishing a brand new world order.”
During the talk, Bulent Yildirim, President of IHH, presented information about their activities regarding the convoy. Offering their thanks to Erbakan, for his support to the campaign, Yildirim said, “This is what Erbakan has advised us to do as humanitarian aid. We are trying to implement what we have been adviced.”
Yildirim, also noted that they have 8 ships ready-to-sail-on at the moment and aim at gathering 10 ships for the purpose. Yildirim mentioned the support coming from parlamentarians of many European countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey in addition to the people and organizations from more than 50 countries supporting the campaign in order to break the ruthless embargo.
Yildirim said that the flotilla is planned to embark on its journey in May and continued, “We are going to break the embargo first time by the sea and deliver the humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
