Gaza City: The Turkish group that bankrolled the aid flotilla raided by Israel has big plans for Gaza.
Its bearded 50-year-old leader has assumed hero status in the impoverished Palestinian territory, where he says his group plans to spend $25 million (Dh91.75 million) on housing, medical care and education.
Mehmet Kaya has been treated like a star wherever he goes since the deadly raid on Monday. Gazans young and old gather to shake his hand, and he enjoys ready access to leaders of the territory's ruling group Hamas.
"The Arab countries that are a part of us haven't done what Turkey did," said Jihan Balousha, 30, who bought her five children to meet Kaya at Gaza's dilapidated port Wednesday.
Influential player
It's all part of Turkey's muscular push into the blockaded Gaza Strip and its growing ambition to be an influential player in the Middle East.
Kaya's group, known by its Turkish acronym IHH, means, in English, Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief.
Israeli-Turkish ties had been showing signs of strains even before Israel's raid on the Freedom Flotilla. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, was an outspoken critic of Israel's war in Gaza last year and in one high-profile incident, stormed off a stage he was sharing with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Davos in the days after the war.
Turkey's government unofficially sponsored the flotilla, which was transporting 10,000 tons of aid and hundreds of activists. In the weeks before the operation, Israeli military and diplomatic officials repeatedly urged Turkey to call off the flotilla — a request that was rebuffed in Ankara. IHH insists it has no ties to Turkey's Islamic-leaning government, though its top fund-raisers are believed to be among Erdogan's core support group, the country's wealthy merchant class.
Strong ties
Signs of the warm Turkish-Gaza ties are popping up around the territory.
A Hamas statement quoting Erdogan as telling the group's leader, Esmail Haniyeh, by phone that "we will continue to support you even if we remain alone" was widely distributed and posted on mosque walls in Gaza this week.
The IHH is renovating the port, funding a Turkish-Palestinian school and plans to build a hospital and apartments for Gazans made homeless during the war with Israel early last year.
The group also supports 9,000 families with money and food parcels, and is hosting computer and sewing courses for women, Kaya said.
Groups like IHH have filled the void because they can use black market goods and — unlike the international agencies — are under no obligation to stay away from Hamas.
Housing
In the war-ravaged Gaza neighbourhood of Izbet Abed Rabbo, IHH is building a three-story apartment block for families made homeless during the Gaza war. The $250,000 project provides jobs for 100 people.
Despite Israeli attempts to discredit the organisation by accusing it of links to terror groups, IHH board member Omer Faruk Korkmaz said his group is strictly involved in delivering aid.
"We don't approve of the actions of any terrorist organisation in the world," he said in an interview at the group's Istanbul headquarters on Wednesday.
Gaza residents say they appreciate the IHH and Turkey for spotlighting Israel's harsh blockade on the territory.
"They have really stood beside us, and we are grateful," Balousha said.
