Turkey stopped all exports and imports to and from Israel as the Turkish trade ministry said last Thursday, citing "worsening humanitarian tragedy" in the Palestinian territories.
"Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products," Turkey's trade ministry said in a statement. "Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli Government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Israel strongly criticized the decision of Turkey. "This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements," Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on social media platform X. Katz said that he instructed the foreign ministry to work to create alternatives for trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries. Katz criticised Ankara at the end of April for inviting Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s “political” bureau, to stay in the country.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that conscientious students and academics, including anti-Zionist Jews were facing violence, cruelty, suffering, and even torture from authorities for opposing Israeli actions. He claimed some were being sacked and lynched for supporting the Palestinians. The limits of Western democracy are drawn by Israel’s interests, the Turkish leader added, accusing Western nations of labelling any criticism of Israel as anti-democratic and antisemitic.
It should be noted that Israel and Turkey had a trade volume of $6.8 billion in 2023. Turkey last month imposed trade restrictions on Israel over what it said was Israel's refusal to allow Ankara to take part in aid air-drop operations for Gaza and its offensive on the enclave. Earlier on Thursday, Israel's foreign minister said that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports.
ZH
