Marmara victims pursue Israel despite apology

Turkish pro-Palestinian activists said they would not withdraw a lawsuit against the Zionist regime's commanders for a fatal 2010 raid on their Gaza-bound flotilla, ahead of official compensation talks between Turkey and the Jewish entity this week."We will not discuss compensation or give up on the trials until the blockade over Gaza is removed," said Musa Cogas, one of the activists who was on board the Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the flotilla aimed at breaking Zionist Gaza blockade, AFP reported Monday.His comments came ahead of official compensation talks between Turkey and the entity of occupation on Thursday.The talks follow an apology from Zionist regime's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month for the deaths of nine Turks during the raid.The much hyped US-brokered apology ended a three-year diplomatic crisis between the entity and Turkey, which asked for a formal apology and compensation for the families of the victims to fully normalize ties."The apology means Israel is confessing to its crime... and has a diplomatic significance but that means nothing to us," said Ahmet Varol, a columnist for the Turkish Islamist daily Akit and another of the activists on board the flotilla."The flotilla set sail to get the embargo lifted over Gaza and the blockade removed and we are clearly not there yet," Varol said.Prosecutors at the high-profile Istanbul trial that opened in November are seeking life sentences for four top Zionist regime's military chiefs over the deadly maritime assault. The next hearing is scheduled for May 20.From a legal perspective, payment of compensation would not lead to the withdrawal of a "public lawsuit" seeking criminal action, a plaintiff lawyer said.All in all, the total compensation sought by the plaintiffs at courts across Turkey reaches 10 million Turkish lira.