|
|
| What Gaza Can Do |
| January 1st, 2011 |
|
Gaza can horrify, sadden and anger people. More than a million people - including more than 500,000 children under the age of 18 - are forced to live desperate lives essentially cut off from the rest of the world in what can be called the largest open-air prison in the world.
Gaza can make some people feel smug. After all they’re only getting what they deserve because Gaza is governed by Hamas, and Gaza threatens Israel’s existence with their rockets, these people say.
Gaza can also inspire.
Furkan Doğan was inspired by Gaza. He was an 18 year old young man in his senior year in high school. He wanted to be an eye doctor. He wanted to go to university in the country he was born in - the U.S.A. - and become as good an eye doctor as he could become because he wanted to treat the poor, the oppressed and the dispossessed who needed eye care or eye surgery but had no access to it. |
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Four Stages of the Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara
• Part One (Photographs) |
| October 29th, 2010 |
|
Israeli commandos boarded and seized the six vessels participating in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters more than 130 km (70 NM) from the coast of Israel in the early morning on the 31st of May, 2010.
During the attack the IDF commandos killed nine people and wounded dozens more on the Mavi Marmara.
Many of the areas which were involved in the Israeli attack to take control of the Mavi Marmara can be seen in these photographs. |
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Furkan Doğan Would Have Been 19 Years Old Today |
| October 20th, 2010 |
|
Furkan Doğan would have been 19 years ago today ...
Furkan Doğan would have been in his first year of medical school today ...
Furkan Doğan’s mother, father, sister, brother and friends would have wished him a happy birthday today ...
... but he isn’t, and they can’t.
Because Furkan Doğan was killed, along with eight others, by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara in the early morning on Monday the 31st of May, 2010 when the IDF commandos boarded and seized the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters more than 130 km (70 NM) from the coast of Israel. |
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Visiting Furkan's Grave |
| October 11th, 2010 |
|
Low gray clouds hung over Kayseri last Friday and reflected my sadness on that chilly afternoon.
We knew that Furkan’s grave was in the Reşadiye Cemetery so we stopped and asked for directions. The first man we asked told us to start at the old castle in the center of Kayseri and follow the main road southwards.
As we went south we stopped several more times to ask again, the response was always the same "Furkan?" and we were told to keep following the road up and to the south. |
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Last Entry Furkan Doğan Made in His Diary on the Mavi Marmara |
| July 26th, 2010 |
|
The Israeli government and media in Israel have tried to use Furkan’s last entry in his diary to show that he had a “desire to die as a martyr aboard the flotilla.” They base this claim on Furkan’s having written, according to them, the following in his last diary entry.
“These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid.
Is there anything more beautiful than this?”
However, they fail to quote the diary entry accurately or completely. |
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Israeli Turkel Commission Has Invited the Captain of the Mavi Marmara to Testify Before It, but They Don't Know His Name |
| September 13th, 2010 |
The Turkel Commission, which was established by the government of Israel to investigate the boarding and seizure of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla by IDF commandos on May 31st, 2010, has sent a letter to the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv requesting that the government of Turkey inform the captain of the Mavi Marmara that he has been invited to come to Israel to testify before the committee.
Even though the Israeli government, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli newspapers Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post all know who the captain of the Mavi Marmara is and have referred to him numerous times as Mehmut Tuval, the Turkel Commission refers to 'Mr. Halid Terzi, who served as the captain of the Mavi Marmara during the incident which the committee is examining, ...' in their letter to the Turkish Embassy. |
|
|
|
|
| The Mavi Marmara as an Israeli Tourist Destination - a floating hotel off the coast of Haifa, Israel? |
| July 10th, 2010 |
Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa, Israel, has sent a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak asking that the government of Israel give the Mavi Marmara to the city of Haifa.
Mayor Yahav would like to turn the Mavi Marmara into a floating hotel.
The mayor believes that Haifa would be the ‘appropriate home for this ship’ because Haifa is ‘a symbol of coexistence and cooperation between all religions’. He also believes that the Mavi Marmara, if converted into a floating hotel in Haifa, would be ‘an international symbol of reconciliation and hope’.
Nine people were killed and dozens seriously wounded by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara when it was boarded and seized by the IDF commandos on the 31st of May, 2010. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
• Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Strange Story of Staff Sergeant ‘S’ of the Shayetet |
| July 7th, 2010 |
On the 4th of June, 2010, just four days after IDF commandos killed nine people on the Mavi Marmara, news reports began to appear about the ‘heroic’ actions of Staff Sergeant ‘S’ who is a commando in the elite Israeli Navy Shayetet 13 commando unit which carried out the boarding and seizure of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
The reports originated from an exclusive interview given by Staff Sergeant ‘S’ and his commander Lt.-Col. ‘T’ to the Jerusalem Post on the 3rd of June, 2010 at the Shayetet’s base in northern Israel.
In the reports the deaths of the nine people who were killed on the Mavi Marmara were all explained in a tidy little story. Staff Sergeant ‘S’ had killed six of them and his fellow soldiers had killed the other three on the open top deck of the Mavi Marmara while protecting IDF commandos who had been wounded from an attacking group of “murderous mercenaries.”
The story was so ‘heroic’ that there was even speculation that Staff Sergeant ‘S’ would be awarded a medal of valor. |
|
|
|
|
| Three IDF Commandos - Subdued, Disarmed and Taken Down to the Lower Deck of the Mavi Marmara |
| June 30th, 2010 |
Three IDF commandos fell, jumped or were thrown off the open top deck of the Mavi Marmara - two on the left side of the ship and one on the right - onto the open walkways on the sides of the bridge deck, which is the level just below the top deck.
This happened soon after IDF commandos, including these three, started to fast-rope down onto the open top deck of the Mavi Marmara from the first IDF helicopter to land commandos on the Mavi Marmara.
It happened near the two doors - one on each side of the ship - which connect the open walkways on the bridge deck with the ship’s main stairwell. They are located at the middle of the ship.
After the commandos landed on the bridge deck’s open walkways they were subdued, taken into the main stairwell and then taken down to the ship’s lower deck where they were checked by a doctor and given some basic medical care. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
• Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s Passengers’ Possessions Weren’t Confiscated or Stolen - According to the Israeli Military |
| June 22nd, 2010 |
Millions of dollars worth of video equipment, audio equipment, broadcasting equipment, cameras, laptops and computer equipment, satellite phones and cell phones,
Memory cards, hundreds of hours of video recordings and thousands of photographs,
Purses, wallets, a large amount of cash and a great number of credit cards,
Shoes, clothes and other personal possessions.
Passengers who were on the Mavi Marmara and the other vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have reported that all of these were taken from them after IDF commandos boarded and seized the flotilla and detained the passengers on the 31st of May, 2010. |
|
|
|
|
| The Mavi Marmara - General Information and Photographs |
| June 14th, 2010 |
The Mavi Marmara is a passenger ship with a capacity of 1080 passengers and 200 tons of cargo which was built in Istanbul in 1994.
The Mavi Marmara was owned and operated as a passenger ferry in the Marmara Sea by IDO (İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.) which is a ferry boat operator owned by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
In 2009 IDO decided to sell the Mavi Marmara because the ferry was operating at a loss of up to 2,500,000 TL per year. Three attempts to sell the Mavi Marmara were made but a new buyer was not found.
The Turkish NGO IHH (İHH İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri İnsani Yardım Vakfı) offered to buy the Mavi Marmara for 1,850,000 TL (apx. 1,250,000 USD) and IDO accepted the offer. After IHH bought the Mavi Marmara in March, 2010 the vessel was registered in the Comoros. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| • Read the full article • |
|
|
|
• Read the full article • |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Furkan Doğan |
| 20 October, 1991 - 31 May, 2010 |
|
|
|
| Furkan Doğan was killed, along with eight others, by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara when the IDF commandos boarded and seized the Mavi Marmara and the five other vessels which were participating in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. |
|
| The flotilla was boarded and seized in international waters more than 130 km (70 NM) from the coast of Israel in the early morning on Monday the 31st of May, 2010. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Furkan Doğan |
| October 20, 1991 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Necdet Yıldırım |
| August 15, 1978 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Cevdet Kılıçlar |
| May 5, 1972 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Ali Haydar Bengi |
| September 11, 1971 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Cengiz Akyüz |
| May 10, 1969 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Fahri Yaldız |
| October 20, 1967 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Cengiz Songür |
| June 4, 1963 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| Çetin Topçuoğlu |
| May 1, 1956 - May 31, 2010 |
|
| İbrahim Bilgen |
| March 2, 1949 - May 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| www.furkan-dogan.com |
|
| This is a site about Furkan Doğan: his life, his family, his friends, his death, developments and events following his death, the Mavi Marmara and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. |
|
| If you have any questions, ideas, suggestions, information, thoughts or comments please contact us. |
|
| contact@furkan-dogan.com |
|
|
|
|
|
| 'Furkan Doğan' is pronounced: |
|
| Furkan - fur kahn |
|
| Doğan - doe ahn |
|
| The 'ğ' is silent. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|