Turkey on Thursday suspended all imports and exports to Israel citing the country’s ongoing military action in Gaza and vowed to continue to impose the measures until the Israeli government allows the flow of humanitarian aid to the region.
A Turkish Ministry of Trade statement said: “Export and import transactions in relation to Israel have been stopped, covering all products.”
Turkish officials would coordinate with Palestinian authorities to ensure that Palestinians are not affected by the suspension of imports and exports, it said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The ministry described the step as the “second phase” of measures against Israel, adding that the steps would remain in force until Israel “allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Last month, Turkey — a staunch critic of Israel’s military actions — announced that it was restricting exports of 54 types of products to Israel, including aluminum, steel, construction products and chemical fertilizers.
Israel responded by also announcing trade barriers.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz accused Turkey of blocking Israeli imports and exports from its ports.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “is breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports,” Katz wrote on the social platform X, previously known as Twitter.
Katz said he had instructed officials to “immediately engage with all relevant parties in the government to create alternatives for trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries.”
Erdogan’s government, which suffered major setbacks in local elections in March, is faced with intense pressure at home to halt trade with Israel. Critics accuse the government of engaging in double standards by leveling strong accusations against Israel while pressing ahead with commercial relations.
Turkey recognized Israel in 1949. Under Erdogan, tensions have ebbed and flowed between the countries. The Turkish president stepped up his criticism of Israel following its military offensive in Gaza, accusing it of carrying out war crimes and genocide. He has described the Hamas militant group, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU, as freedom fighters.
This week, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan said Turkey had decided to join the legal case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and would soon submit a formal request to intervene in the case.
South Africa filed a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention with its military offensive against Hamas. Israel denies that its military campaign in Gaza amounts to a breach of the convention.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS