After Israeli forces intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters near Crete, detaining at least 20 Turkish nationals among approximately 175 activists on board, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan moved quickly on the diplomatic front, holding back-to-back calls with his Spanish and Greek counterparts.
Ankara condemned the operation as 'an act of piracy,' saying Israel's intervention violated international law and the principle of freedom of navigation, and announced that all necessary steps were being taken in coordination with relevant countries regarding Turkish citizens on board.
Fidan called Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno given that the flotilla had originated from Barcelona, underscoring the need for a joint international stance against what Ankara described as an 'illegal intervention.' He then spoke with Greek Foreign Minister Yorgo Gerapetritis to exchange views on the developments and their regional implications. The call with Athens carried particular weight: the interception occurred in waters that fall under Greece's search and rescue jurisdiction, a fact that has fueled a domestic political row in Athens over the coast guard's inaction.
The condemnation extended across the Turkish political spectrum. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş called the raid 'a clear war crime against humanity.' Justice Minister Akın Gürlek noted that an Istanbul prosecutor's office had already converted an earlier investigation into the October 2025 flotilla interception into an indictment, signaling that legal proceedings against Israeli officials were now underway. AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik described the attack as 'barbarism targeting the alliance of humanity.'
The main opposition CHP Chair Özgür Özel also condemned the raid, calling it 'open banditry' — but used the occasion to accuse the government of hypocrisy, arguing that an administration willing to sit at the same table as Israel over Gaza could not credibly claim to stand with the Palestinian people.
The incident carries echoes of the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, in which Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish-flagged vessel in a previous Gaza flotilla, killing nine Turkish nationals and triggering a years-long rupture in Turkey–Israel relations.
