ANKARA: The Turkish parliament Wednesday urged the government to implement "effective" measures against Israel over its deadly raid on aid ships bound for Gaza.
The parliament "expects the Turkish government to review our political, military and economic ties with Israel and take the necessary effective measures," read a declaration adopted unanimously in the general assembly.
"Turkey should resort to national and international legal means against Israel," it added.
The declaration also called for the establishment of an independent international commission to investigate the Israeli raid, which it said was a "clear violation of the UN charter and international law".
"The Israeli government should formally apology over this attack, ensure that the perpetrators are brought to trial and punished; and pay compensation to the victims of the attack," it added.
The declaration also called on the UN Security Council "to adopt in the shortest time possible a resolution condemning Israel and stipulating sanctions," it said.
The parliament’s human rights commission, meanwhile, decided to send a delegation to Israel at an appropriate time to investigate the circumstances of the raid, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Monday’s pre-dawn raid on the aid flotilla in international waters left nine activists — among them at least four Turks — dead and led to the capture of hundreds by Israeli forces.
In response, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and cancelled joint war games while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the international community to punish the Jewish state for its "lawlessness".
