Dear members of the press,

We are here with you today and we will again be with the oppressed people there and in other part of the world tomorrow.

I welcome you all and greet you with love and respect.

First of all, I thank my Lord to be alive here today together with you.

Dearest friends,

I would like to start with a confession. While we were under fire on the ship from all sides, the bravery and the resilience of our journalist friends most impressed me.

You are people whose friendship one cannot afford to forget.

I sincerely and genuinely thank you all, all our media and the world’s media.

Dear friends,

Our nation has once again showed its greatness in the face of the recent incidents by reacting in the best  way possible and with resilience.

For this reason,

we sincerely thank,

our Nation,

our State with all its institutions,

our President,

our Parliament that acted in unity and passed a decision,

our Government, our Prime Minister, our Ministers,

the office of our Commander in Chief,

all our political parties both in government and in opposition,

all the members of our parliament,

all nongovernmental organizations,

the business world that has been aware of the greatness of Turkey before anyone else,

and of course, our volunteer sister and brothers who came from all over the world and risked their lives.

Dear members of the press,

Our group was made up of all sorts of people, including leftists, rightists, liberals, conservatives, atheists, muslims, christians, jews, buddhists…Ours was a civil and pacifist initiative created by conscientious, civilian, unarmed people who carried with them nothing but humanitarian aid.

And we set sail to prove to the people of Gaza, who have been under a siege for years which is not unlike an imprisonment in a castle, that human kindness has not yet died.

Keeping our faith in the spirit of civil power, our Freedom Flotilla did not take any orders or any kind of support from any government during its organization. Our power came solely from the conscience of humanity and the courage of our rightfulness. We wanted to be a source of invigoration for the people of Gaza on whom many states turn a blind eye.

We did not want to be complicit in the oppression against the people of Gaza by keeping silent, not raising our voices and not doing anything.

We all knew well that we were going to be confronted with the government of Israel.

We were aware that this empire of lies and massacres was very capable of slandering even the most innocent efforts and obfuscating the facts.

As a matter of fact, we were guessing that they could stop us from our course with their naval ships and try to prevent us from getting to our destination in all sorts of ways. However, we did not think for a moment the possibility of the fact that they could carry out a massacre, initiate a terror attack on innocent civilians, turn into such vile, brutal criminals and attack the conscience of humanity.

Brothers and sisters,

We were sailing on international waters.

International waters is not anybody’s personal property. The Israeli terrorists violated maritime laws that were formed throughout the course of thousand s of years, acted not with the solemnity and responsibility of a state but with the brutality of a band of bandits or a terrorist organization and opened cross fire on us before even descending on our ship.

Journalists from all over the world are witnesses to this.

You are witnesses to this.

And now look what these murderers are saying:

They are accusing us asking why we threw water bottles and plates at them and why we had clubs.

Dear members of the press,

What would you do when confronted with criminals or terrorists that first opened fire on your house and then violated your property with the most advanced firearms?

Ours was self-defense. And self defense is legitimate. It has always been legitimate in all systems of law and throughout history.

I am a lawyer. I should know this better than anyone.

However, we did not defend ourselves with firearms against these terrorists that attacked us with firearms, we did not have such means anyway. Now some people are asking, “Why did you go there?”

We did, because we are humans.

We went out there because we are humans. The conscience of humanity has not yet died, this we wanted to prove to humanity itself. For this, we went out there.

We went and we will go again.

We would have another fleet of humanitarian aid on its way if the same thing was done to the jews by the muslims. Such is our philosophy of life.

Wherever there was an oppressed, disadvantaged person, a child crying in hunger or an orphan, we were there. Just a few months ago, we were in Haiti.

As you all know, a few weeks ago, two of our brothers were martyred when they went to Afghanistan to open an orphanage. We went to Bosnia when the Serbs massacred the Bosnian people. When the hurricane hit the USA, we went to help them. We went to all parts of Africa. We went to Iraq several times. Earthquakes happened in Greece and in Italy and we went to these countries.

We went to all those places because we were human, because this is the meaning of life to us.

You may not get along with a state, you may not approve the way a country is governed. These are legitimate things. Yet, you cannot punish the whole of their people or a whole city.

You cannot deprive a whole city of food, water, medicine and shelter.

This is not legitimate.

Brothers and sisters,

We will keep telling this massacre carried out on innocent, unarmed civilians to everyone for as long as we live.

There will be noone left that does not damn this injustice, brutality and lawlessness.

Those who carried out a massacre on us yesterday with firearms have started yet another attack now.

The government of Israel that has made a career out of lying is slandering our organization.

We know perfectly well that their greatest skill is in lying.

Thank God that the public opinion does not seem to believe even one bit in what this empire of lies says.

The Israeli government is accusing us of supporting terror.

This is a despicable lie.

Israel kills innocent civilians and we are martyred while we are trying to make them live.

Israel kills babies and we are martyred while we are trying to save them.

Israel leaves people without food and we are martyred while are trying to save them from hunger.

Israel leaves people without medicine and we are martyred while we are trying to heal them.

I ask to all people with reason, mercy and conscience: Who is the terrorist?

Brothers and sisters,

If we had been supporters of terror, we would have been supporters of Israel for Israel is the greatest terrorist.

The whole world saw this yet again on the 31^st of May, 2010.

Distinguished members of the press,

From now on, we are more hopeful of a better future for all the innocent, oppressed and disadvantaged people all over the world.

And from now on, no oppressors, no murderers, no villains, no outlaws, no bandits, no terrorists and no dictators will be able to get away with what they do.

None of us will allow this.

Just as the Nazis were tried and convicted for what they did to the Jews,

just as the Serbian officials who were responsible for the massacres of Bosnian people were tried and convicted,

the Zionist officials of Israel too will one day be tried and convicted before the eyes of all humanity for what they did. All humanity will follow this and bring this to an end.

Before I end my words, I would like to thank you again for your attention and participation.

IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation takes the responsibility of many people who are stricken, disadvantaged because of wars, occupations, natural disasters, etc., injured, crippled, famished or homeless, and oppressed; and sends them necessary humanitarian aid. IHH, since its establishment, has worked in deprived geographies that nobody has gone in Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Far East, and America; and has held out a hand to the oppressed.

IHH carries out activities in the fields of emergency aid; social relief; educational, stationery and medical aid; and of redressing grievances that occur because of human rights violations. IHH reaches the depended people who are stricken because of wars, occupations or natural disasters; and who are routed out of their houses and has become refugees. After that, it supports them with aids in kind and cash assistances, and also with permanent projects.

IHH, who works for humanitarian relief in more than 70 countries, dispenses rations to depended people during the month of Ramadan and the Eid al Adha regularly. In this Eid al Adha period, IHH will be in 100 countries all over the world, in many countries of Africa, America, Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasia, the Balkans and Far East. It will slaughter sacrificial animals in these regions. It will bring some happiness to half million Muslims who live in aggrieved and deprived places. It will reach remote regions to be hope for the needy people and bring the salute of people from Turkey to them.

Eid al Adha is an appropriate opportunity to reach people who need water, food as well as schools, education centers, hospitals etc. IHH authorities made feasibility works in places during their Eid al Adha visits and return with reports from those regions. These visits become the starts of new projects. To be able to reach more people IHH waits for the contributions of benevolent people in Turkey and in other countries.

The first of the permanent construction projects after the earthquake was started for the accommodations of widows and orphans- This was started to help them get their lives back in order and to deal with the shock of losing their homes and husbands.
First building housed 2 thousand widows and orphans and was put into service in the Aşiyana region, between the capital, Islamabad, and Peshawar. The suitable housing accommodations made by Pakistan Army and their management will be given to Pakistan Ministry of Social Affairs. Ministry itself, Hubeyb Foundation, and IHH will manage the service.
Zübeyde Celal minister of Social Affairs thanked IHH appreciating the contributions of Turkish people for the Pakistan earthquake.
IHH teams saying that works for the orphans are important reminded that many foreign foundations and illegal formations try to capture ownerless children. Therefore, our team emphasis that permanent projects for the orphans and widows are important and donations must continue for effective service.

Food distribution for the Chechen refugees most of whom are living in Istanbul continues.  Realized in the regular relief framework, 1.5 tons of meat was distributed to the refugees.  The distributions benefited nearly 200 families with 500 packets containing a half a kilo of cheese.
After the war that began in 1999, the majority of Chechen refugees in Turkey are woman and children.  IHH has remained their main support and possibly their only support for the last 6 years.
‘The aid offered the refugees for these past 6 years has been not only been food relief but also clotheing and education-

started a new operation to prevent deaths resulting hypothermia and from the harsh winter weather. Plans are being drawn up to build permanent housing for the earthquake victims.
Keeping the cost of building materials low, a new house in the region will cost a small amount of money (700 New Turkish Liras). By keeping costs low, many more victims can benefit from the project.
Aid from other volunteer foundations in Turkey will be cooperating systematically which was announced at a press conference in the central offices of TGTV. TGTV is comprised of more than 80 volunteer foundations in Turkey and is an important provider of emergency relief in disasters. With the combination of IHH experience in the region and the power of TGTV, this cooperation seems to be a big step for the effective relief work in the earthquake region.

Winter weather in Kashmir can be very cold and as we attempt to solve the problem. In the tent city capital Muzafferabat by replacing their old tents, set up immediately after the earthquake, with tents designed for the winter.  IHH teams will finish their work in a few days and have already enlarged the medical tent to meet an unusually demand from a people suffering from shcok and the cold-.
Our teams said that the operating room, obstetrics and gynecology unit and laboratory units will be ready by December 15.  But for the students in the camp city, a tent remains their school.
Our experts say no housing or structures of any kind survived in the the earthquake.  The victims of the quake will have to live in the tents until the permanent housing is ready.

Continuing its work in different parts of the world, IHH does not forget the needy people in Turkey.   Distributions are especially in eastern parts of the Turkey where income levels are extremely low.
After last week’s food distributions in Sivas and Trabzon, our teams started their food distribution programs in Erzincan and Erzurum this week.
Our teams aim to distribute food to 250 families in Erzican and to 350 families in Erzurum.  The team relief effort is working with the local media agencies to participate in town meetings.  Last year, they gave the evening Ramadan meals to people in over 25 cities. IHH will give food relief to many poor people in many cities in the coming Qurban Fest.

Chechen refugees from the second Chechen-Russian War (starting in 1999) and who are living in Istanbul have a more direct access to IHH food distribution. 120 Chechen refugee families have benefitted from the recent aid distribution. These refugees are living in three different camps in the Anatolian side of Istanbul, most of them being woman with children.
These refugees can only can only satify their food and shelter needs through charitable organizatiuons as they wait for a solution to their legal residence status and political problems surrounding the turmoil in their homeland.  The most important problem of the refugees is getting the legal status of a permanent refugee, which at present affects the education of the children and social services.

IHH relief work for Chechen refugees continues. Chechen orphans receive a monthly stipend from IHH to meet their basic needs but this remains just sufficient to do just that and no more.
About 500 Chechen orphan children now live in Azerbaijan among the nearly 6 thousand Chechen refugees there.  Chechen refugees have taken shelter in Azerbaijan, Ingushetia, Turkey and other neighboring countries because of the war that began in 1994 and stopped only to begin again in 1999.  The people want peace and this 7 year-old refugee status to end to they can get on with the lives.  IHH relief for Chechen refugees includes housing and health expenses along with monthly food distributions.