turkey-suspends-trade-activities-with-israel-citing-continued-violence

Turkey has ceased all trade activities with Israel in response to what it calls the latter's "non-stop violence" against Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Turkish Trade Ministry.

This decision follows Turkey's imposition of restrictions on various exports to Israel since last month, which Ankara said on Thursday would remain in effect until a ceasefire in Gaza is achieved.

The Ministry recalled that in April, Ankara had already restricted the export of 54 product groups to Israel, citing ongoing "massacre, humanitarian catastrophe, and physical destruction" by Israel, along with Israeli government resistance to international ceasefire efforts and obstruction of humanitarian aid.

Stating that Israel's aggressive behaviour continues and the humanitarian crisis in Palestine is worsening, the Ministry announced the initiation of the second phase of state-level measures, suspending export and import transactions with Israel for all products.

Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli government allows the uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Ministry said.

However, the Turkish Trade Ministry assured coordination with Palestinian authorities to ensure that the Palestinian people "who are forced to live under occupation" are not adversely affected by these restrictions.

Trade between Turkey and Israel amounted to $6.8 billion in 2023, with Turkish exports constituting 76% of the total, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.