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By Press TV | July 03, 2010

'Intl. flotilla probe not in Turkey interest'

US President Barack Obama has warned Turkey against pressing for an international investigation into the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla. 

Eight Turks and one US national of Turkish descent were killed in the Israeli attack in international waters on May 31. The Turkish-backed Freedom Flotilla had set sail to break Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip. 

President Obama told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that potential international investigators could come up with claims against those attacked on the lead Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Saturday. 

Such an inquiry, Obama said, could turn into a "double-edged sword" pointed at Ankara amid Tel Aviv's claims that the activists provoked the Israeli violence. 

Erdogan, however, said the attack was in violation of international regulations and reiterated a UN call for an international probe. 

Ankara has withdrawn its ambassador from Tel Aviv in response to the aggression, which has inflicted a record damage on Turkey-Israel ties. 

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu recently said the ties remained strained unless Tel Aviv apologizes, compensates the victims, agrees to an international probe and ends its blockade on the Gaza Strip


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