Ankara:
Turkey has halted all trade activities with Israel due to Israel’s “non-stop violence” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Turkish Commerce Ministry said.
The move follows Turkish restrictions on a range of exports to Israel since last month, which Ankara said on Thursday would remain in place until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
In a statement, the ministry recalled that Ankara had previously restricted exports of 54 product groups to Israel in April as the “carnage, humanitarian catastrophe and physical destruction caused by Israel continued”, and the Israeli government supported international efforts to implement a ceasefire “ignored” and blocked humanitarian aid, reports Xinhua news agency.
“It is observed that the Israeli government continues its aggressive behavior and that the humanitarian tragedy in Palestine is worsening,” the ministry said.
“In this regard, the second phase of the measures taken at the state level has been initiated and export and import transactions with Israel have been suspended for all products,” the statement said.
Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli government allows the uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, it added.
On the other hand, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce is coordinating with the Palestinian authorities to ensure that Palestinian people “forced to live under occupation” are not affected by these restrictions, the ministry noted.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, trade between the two countries reached $6.8 billion in 2023, with Turkish exports accounting for 76 percent of the total.
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