Ankara angry as Israel charges Turkish tourist with aiding Hamas

Israel charged a detained Turkish tourist on Sunday with helping smuggle money andpackages to Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a case that hasangered Ankara, which has vowed to retaliate.

Ebru Ozkan, 27, has been held since last month when she wasdetained trying to board a flight in Tel Aviv. One of thecharges she faces is for smuggling five bottles of perfume,which her lawyer ridiculed as trivial, saying she should bereleased.

The case has further strained relations between Israel andTurkey, both U.S. allies, who once enjoyed friendly ties buthave become acrimonious in recent years as IslamistPresident Tayyip Erdogan has solidified his power in Turkey.

Indicted in military court

Ozkan was led, manacled, to the dock in an Israeli militarycourt on the boundary with the occupied West Bank, where she wasindicted on two counts of acting in the service of a proscribedgroup, one count of transferring money for enemy agents, and onecount of threatening public order.

If convicted, she could face several years in jail.

Though she is accused of having also brought other items,prosecutors put at the top of the list her smuggling of fivebottles of perfume to be sold to raise funds for Hamas.

Lawyer sounding incredulous

In response to that charge, her lawyer Omara Khamaisi toldReuters outside the court: "Come on, really?"

"I think that in this the case the decision will ultimatelybe a brave one to release her, I hope."

Khamaisi said Ozkan had been denied access to legal counselfor most of her detention and had not been interrogated inTurkish, leading to distortions in the way her answers toquestions were recorded.

The indictment did not give specifics on where the allegedoffences took place. Khamaisi said Ozkan had spent three days inJerusalem during her stay.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas, which controlsthe Gaza Strip under de facto Israeli blockade. Hamas isclassified as a terrorist group by Israel and the West, but notby NATO-member Turkey.

Asked about Ozkan's case on Friday, Turkish Foreign MinisterMevlut Cavusoglu referred to her as "our sister" and accusedIsrael of "taking deterrent measures against our citizenstravelling to Jerusalem."

"However, we will retaliate against this. Our relations willnormalize when Israel stops its inhumane policies," he said
without elaborating.

Turkey and Israel once had a bedrock security partnership. But the relationship has deteriorated over the last decade, withAnkara condemning three Israeli wars in Gaza. Ties were rupturedafter Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid flotilla trying toreach Gaza in 2010, killing nine activists.

Muslims account for just a small percentage of incomingtourists to Israel. In 2016, most of them, around 100,000, camefrom Turkey.