Three Turkish lawmakers and 18 citizens who were among the passengers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla intercepted by Israel on Wednesday have returned to Turkey through separate routes after being held in Israeli custody, according to reports by the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Felicity Party (SP) deputies Necmettin Çalışkan and Mehmet Atmaca, along with Future (Gelecek) Party deputy Sema Silkin Ün, arrived in İstanbul late Thursday after traveling from Tel Aviv to Baku earlier in the day. The three MPs were greeted at İstanbul Airport by their families as well as SP leader Mahmut Arıkan, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Chairman Ali Babacan, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker Hasan Turan and other officials.
A separate Turkish Airlines flight carrying 18 Turkish nationals and dozens of other activists who were part of the same mission were flown from Amman on a special charter arranged for their release and landed in İstanbul early Friday. The passengers, who had been detained in international waters and held at various facilities in Israel, were welcomed by families, lawmakers and supporters who gathered at İstanbul Airport’s VIP terminal to greet them. They were greeted on the tarmac with flowers by several AKP members and Turkish Airlines officials, before being escorted to the arrivals area by bus, Anadolu said.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which organized the mission, said on Wednesday that the Israeli military first attacked The Conscience, a ship carrying 93 people including doctors, journalists and activists before intercepting three smaller boats. Passengers were “being held in unknown conditions,” the group said.
Contact had been cut for some time with the Turkish lawmakers after the raid, according to Turkish officials.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli on Thursday announced on X that the three lawmakers had left Israel, with Ankara working to bring all the remaining Turkish nationals home on a special flight expected Friday.
İsrail tarafından el konulan Özgürlük Filosu’na ait teknelerde bulunan üç Milletvekilimiz, Türkiye’ye dönmek üzere Azerbaycan’a hareket etmişlerdir.
Diğer vatandaşlarımızın yarın yapılacak özel bir uçak seferiyle ülkemize gelmesi için çalışmalarımız sürüyor.
Gerçekleşmesi…
— Öncü Keçeli | Dışişleri Bakanlığı Sözcüsü (@SpoxTR_MFA) October 9, 2025
Israel’s foreign ministry called the operation targeting the aid flotilla a response to “another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone,” while Ankara condemned the interception as “an act of piracy” and a “grave violation of international law.”
The October 8 raid came just days after Israeli forces detained about 450 people on another flotilla known as Global Sumud, which involved some 40 vessels. Among them were Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and around 50 Turkish citizens, most of whom have since been deported.
The developments come as Israel’s government ratified a ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Friday, clearing the way to partially pull back troops and fully suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours. Thousands of displaced Palestinians streamed back towards their abandoned homes after the ceasefire went into effect. Hamas is expected to release the 20 living Israeli hostages within 72 hours, after which Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons and 1,700 others detained in Gaza during the war as part of the truce’s first steps.
A senior Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday that Turkey will join a joint task force established to monitor the Gaza ceasefire and help locate the bodies of Israeli hostages presumed dead, along with the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel.