Azernews.Az

Two Azerbaijani citizens, detained by Israeli troops during their recent attack on the aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, returned home on Sunday. They were repatriated by a plane flight from Tel-Aviv to Baku.
Israeli troops intercepted the Freedom aid flotilla in neutral waters on May 31, opening fire from helicopters and sending in commandoes. The aid flotilla consisting of six vessels, co-sponsored by a Turkish organization, along with humanitarian cargo, was carrying up to 700 rights defenders from many countries. Nine people – all Turks - were killed, and over 30 people were wounded.
Garaoglan Guliyev, 41, who worked as a sailor at the Turkey-owned Define-Y vessel, which was sailing under the Greek flag, has told the Baku-based ANS TV channel that the six aid ships were traveling within a short distance from one another. The Israeli troops first attacked the Blue Marmara vessel, firing upon it without warning.
"There shouldn’t have been any such warning, either, because we were sailing in international waters," Guliyev says. "They had planned their attack overnight. At dawn, at around 4-5 a.m., Blue Marmara came under fire. The attack was unleashed using motorboats, helicopters, ships and planes. Soldiers landing on board from helicopters did not let us move. So, we got confused and didn’t know what was going on, because we came under an attack for absolutely no reason."
Guliyev said there was no resistance to the Israeli troops whatsoever.
"At first we just tried to prevent the soldiers from landing on the vessels using fire extinguishers. But we surrendered, as we could not counter weapons while being unarmed. At the Define-Y vessel that I was on, no one was killed or wounded."
Guliyev dismissed the reports saying there were weapons on board.
"Since we are sailors, the [humanitarian] assistance was loaded to the vessels before our eyes. The cargo contained tents, men, women and children’s clothing, food and medicine. There were wheel-chairs as well. Our cargo had neither weapons nor anything resembling a weapon. There were no combustible substances on board either. Since I am aware of all the items the vessel was carrying, I can say with a full brunt of responsibility that we were carrying only aid to help people."
The Israeli servicemen had taken Guliyev to the country’s central jail, together with several other people. Speaking of the conditions of detention, he said: "They were holding me there like a captive… However, I did not face any use of force. I was held there together with an Azerbaijani named Maharram Orujov. We were interrogated. They spoke to me in Russian through a translator.
"The clothes I had on in jail were dirty. Overall, while we were there, we were not allowed to move a notch. There were a lot of guards who watched us all the time. They took away all the things I had with me. My phone, my clothes and other items had been impounded. When I was heading back, they didn’t return them."
Orujov, a 27-year-old Azerbaijani who had worked at the Define-Y vessel for three years, confirmed that there were no weapons or armed persons on board. He said Define-Y had not been attacked by the Israeli troops, but it was blocked from entering the Gaza Strip. Orujov also said that the people on board the ship did not resist the Israeli servicemen in any way.*