Israel Denies it Detained Turkish Right-Wing Leadership

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images
JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

The Jerusalem Post reports: Claims that Israel detained a delegation from a far-right Turkish party at Ben–Gurion Airport on Thursday, including its leader, Mustafa Destici, are greatly exaggerated, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The Hurriyet Daily News reported that a tweet on the official account of the Great Unity Party (BBP) early on Thursday morning read that “Israeli police have detained our deputy leader Ilker Kayalioglu and other party members for interrogation for an hour and a half.”

The BBP is a far-right Islamist and nationalist party currently not represented in the Turkish parliament. A delegation representing the party was on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 that was stopped by the IDF as it tried to break the maritime blockade of Gaza.

A Foreign Ministry statement said that Destici and Kayalioglu arrived in Israel from Amman on a Royal Jordanian flight on Sunday, and departed Thursday at 8.30 am.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.