Ankara Anatolia news agency reported from Ankara that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan answered reporters’ questions after the ceremony held at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) on the occasion of the beginning of the new judicial year. Answering a question about the UN’s Mavi Marmara report, Erdogan said: “If the current step can be described as ‘Plan B,’ then there will also be a ‘Plan C.’ Similarly, depending on developments, many other and different steps may be taken. Israel has lost the partnership it has had with Turkey until now because of its pursuit of its political interests in the region. Israel has always acted as an arrogant boy in the face of Resolutions related to Israel passed by the UN until now. It thought that it could continue acting as an arrogant boy forever. On behalf of Turkey, we said earlier that this incident that occurred in international waters was inhuman, that it is an atrocity, and that it is an act of state terror.”

When asked whether “one of the steps announced was that every measure [will be] taken to ensure freedom of navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean and that this might lead to conflict or various different situations”, Erdogan replied: “The Eastern Mediterranean is not foreign to us. Aksaz, Iskenderun [Alexandretta]–we have the strength, the means, and the right to keep a watch over these places. Obviously, henceforth, our ships will make themselves visible much more frequently in those waters. We will see these ships very frequently.”