President Recep Erdogan’s government has announced the suspension of all trade activities with Israel.
The Turkish trade ministry said the decision to halt “export and import transactions” with Israel was on the premise of unleashing “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.
Recall that Turkey strongly opposes the Israeli government under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their actions in Gaza following the Hamas attacks on October 7th.
Speaking on its latest decision to halt trade transactions, Turkey set a condition that it would lift its embargo on lsrael if it chooses to offer unlimited humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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“Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli Government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the trade ministry said.
In 2023, the two nations’ trade volume was $6.8 billion.
Due to what Ankara claimed was Israel’s refusal to permit Ankara to participate in aid airdrop operations for Gaza and its offensive on the enclave, Turkey last month imposed trade restrictions on Israel.
Israel Katzsaid, the country’s minister of foreign affairs, claimed earlier on Thursday that Erdogan was breaching agreements by closing ports to Israeli imports and exports.
“This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements,” Katz posted on social media platform X.
Katz stated that he gave the foreign ministry instructions to develop substitutes for trade with Turkey, emphasizing domestic manufacturing and imports from other nations.
