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The Freedom and Sumud Flotilla announces it will set sail from Spain to the Mediterranean on April 12 with more than 100 ships and boats and thousands of participants from over 150 countries.
Dilek Tekocak reads the statement on behalf of the Freedom and Sumud Flotilla Türkiye Coordination at a press conference held at the Neslisah Sultan Cultural Center in Istanbul’s Fatih district.
Tekocak says the humanitarian situation in Gaza is not a crisis but a systematic destruction and genocide, citing months of blockade, closed borders, obstructed aid, targeted health infrastructure and severe violations against civilians.
She states that the announcement is not only about today’s urgent agenda but also about what she describes as 78 years of policies since the Nakba in 1948, including apartheid, dispossession and denial of basic rights.
“Türkiye declares that it joins the Global Sumud Flotilla and announces its renewed departure to break the unlawful blockade on Gaza and to defend the Palestinian people’s right to life, human dignity and self-determination,” Tekocak says.
According to the statement, the flotilla will depart from Spain with more than 100 ships and boats, involving delegations from over 50 countries, including Spain, Italy and Tunisia, and participants from more than 150 countries.
Tekocak says the flotilla aims not only to carry humanitarian aid but also to bring health workers, educators, infrastructure and eco-construction teams, lawyers and war crimes investigators to Gaza.
She notes that more than 1,000 doctors, nurses and health workers are expected to be among the participants.
Describing the initiative as a peaceful global civilian movement, Tekocak says it is a response to what she calls the inadequacy of international mechanisms and a peaceful civil objection to the illegality of the blockade.
She refers to the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, saying the effort that began then demonstrated that seas and consciences cannot be chained.
Tekocak states that 132 days have passed since a ceasefire declaration but argues that what is presented as calm on the ground amounts to the continuation of the blockade.
She says the ceasefire is violated more than 1,000 times in the first 100 days, with 477 Palestinians killed. Since Oct. 7, she says, 76,230 civilians, including children and women, are killed and 174,000 injured, with nearly the entire population displaced at least once.
According to the statement, access to water decreases by 98%, and nearly all international humanitarian missions are blocked.
Tekocak also says the U.N. Security Council’s Resolution 2803 gives legal character to what she calls the Trump plan and envisions a foreign administration over Gaza.
Speakers at the meeting include Bulent Yildirim, head of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH); Selman Esmerer, head of the New World Industrialists and Businessmen Association (YENIAD); and Osman Nuri Kabaktepe, head of the Palestine Solidarity Platform.
Representatives from numerous organizations, including Medeniyet Hareketi, ONDER Imam Hatipliler Association, Anadolu Youth Association, HAK-IS, Memur-Sen and the Türkiye Youth Foundation (TUGVA), also attend the meeting.
Members of the Freedom and Sumud Flotilla Türkiye Coordination provide information about the flotilla’s planned route.
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