On Friday, Türkiye’s Trade Minister Ömer Bolat announced that Ankara would not be resuming trade with Israel, amid the escalating attacks against Palestine.
The decision marks a dramatic halt as Bloomberg reported the countries’ trade totaled 6.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Bolat stated trade will not continue: “Until a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid for Gaza are secured.”
In a statement, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “All of the West is working with Israel, starting with America. All these means are being mobilized to, unfortunately, condemn the waifs, strays, and poor in Palestine to death in the face of Israel’s bombs.”
In the announcement, he said: “We could not have remained patient in the face of these, so we took our steps.”
In retaliation to Turkiye’s actions, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on social media platform X: “This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements,”
On the other hand, Hamas has praised the decision calling it “a brave decision and supportive of Palestinian rights.”
The decision follows Türkiye’s action last month when all exports to Israel of steel, fertilizer, and jet fuel among other products were stopped, as Israel prevented Ankara from air-dropping humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since October 7, Türkiye has sent thousands of tons of aid to Gaza.
In addition, Türkiye has also indicated it will join South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).