The wood was formed within Palestine Friendship and Brotherhood Forest created nearby Sirkeli Village in 2006. Members of a local association and a number of foreign students in Turkey planted trees to commemorate memory of the activists killed in the attack on the Mavi Marmara boat. 

Hanefi Sinan, general coordinator of the Human Rights and Service Association – IHH Ankara, recalled they had created in 2006 Palestine Friendship and Brotherhood Forest close to Sirkeli Village. Sinan stated they planned to form a wood within the forest in memory of the volunteers wounded or killed by Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmara boat carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, and said they would plant 54 Mediterranean Cypress to commemorate the victims. The Mediterranean Cypress symbolizes peace and tranquility, he said “We will always show that we stand by the oppressed in reaction to the Israeli aggression.”   

Dozens of people, including students from 20 countries studying in Turkey, planted trees in the previously designated area.