Turkey partially limited exports to Israel at the beginning of April for a similar reason. Back then, it was about goods from 54 different categories, including aviation fuel, cement, aluminum, steel and iron. Ankara justified the move by saying that Israel did not allow it to participate in airdropping humanitarian aid for the residents of the Gaza Strip.
According to the Turkish Statistical Office (Tüik), the annual volume of foreign trade between Turkey and Israel was 6.8 billion dollars (roughly 159 billion crowns). Roughly three-quarters of the total volume was Turkish exports to Israel, and according to Tüik’s predictions, the volume of mutual trade should increase this year.
The Turkish government has not yet officially announced the measure, which blocked both exports and imports, according to Bloomberg. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a vocal opponent of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip and in recent months has labeled Israel a terrorist state. The Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas, which attacked the south of Israel on October 7 last year, killed 1,200 people there and dragged another 250 to the Gaza Strip as hostages, on the contrary, it called it a liberation organization.
Erdogan held talks with Hamas leader in Istanbul
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