Turkey Halts All Trade With Israel, Officials Say
www.bloomberg.com
Turkey stopped all trade with Israel as of Thursday, according to two Turkish officials familiar with the matter, adding to already high-running tensions between the once-close allies over the war in Gaza.
  • Trade between the two countries was worth $6.8 billion in 2023

Turkey stopped all trade with Israel as of Thursday, according to two Turkish officials familiar with the matter, adding to already high-running tensions between the once-close allies over the war in Gaza.

The move expands last month’s restriction on some Turkish exports to Israel, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up criticism of the Jewish state and tries to consolidate support among conservative voters at home.

Ankara hasn’t formally announced the suspension and it wasn’t clear under what conditions trade would resume. Trade between the countries was worth $6.8 billion in 2023, of which 76% was Turkish exports, according to the Turkish statistical institute.

The move came a day after Turkey announced plans to join South Africa’s case at the United Nations’ highest court as a plaintiff accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Palestinian territory.

Erdogan hosted Hamas’s political leader in Istanbul on April 20, calling for immediate aid to Gaza.

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  • Arelin@lemmy.zip
    641·
    7 months ago

    Fucking finally. Was disgusting hearing Erdogan pretend to be pro-Palestine while being a primary trading partner of the occupation. I guess the internal pressure from the population is finally getting to them.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        141·
        7 months ago

        He did it because his people demand it, so in a sense you’re right, but his people demanded it for humanitarian reasons.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
        8·
        7 months ago

        Just assume all politicians are evil robots, that will only do what’s in their best interests. Once you see things that way, it becomes easier to navigate the world.

    • Land_Strider@lemmy.world
      5·
      7 months ago

      I really would love to feel proud about this as a Turkish citizen, or feel good about this as a person in this world witnessing this current instance of the continuous oppression and genocide, but I really have more doubts than these feelings when it involves Erdoğan and caring about human lives/rights or sincerity.

      The move expands last month’s restriction on some Turkish exports to Israel, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up criticism of the Jewish state and tries to consolidate support among conservative voters at home.

      The last part is the most likely part, because he is doing jack shit to alleviate the already abysmal living standards by meaningful approaches like utilizing taxes and national resources for people’s prosperity instead of filling his unborn grandkids’s pockets further down a millennium. Anything other than addressing this issue is just a smokescreen to goad disgruntled and hungry right-wing nationalists into voting for him again, especially after his party AKP’s crushing defeat in local governments and municipalities.

      Besides, I’m sure he is lining up for another bribe into his pocket as he most likely did with his stance on the NATO accession of Sweden, which he similarly shouted and cried about cutting off monetary activities of PKK there for about a few months before timidly accepting a international-politics-wise verbal “okay we accept”, which was promptly called back after the accession was accepted.

      Another likely and probably concurrently-running possibility is that he is sucking up to his Qatari sugardaddies, who as everyone knows house some of the high ranking Hamas leaders. Erdoğan has been forming very very close ties with Qatar in recent years, from mutual military personnel training programmes to selling ports, mountain assets, energy tenders, etc. at dirt cheap prices and long leases, to begging money when the Turkish economy he singlehandedly ruined heads to another steep dive into abyss every few months.

      So yeah, it will definitely hurt Israel both in economy and reputation at some level, but don’t expect anything with sincere concerns as the reason behind Erdoğan’s actions.

      • تحريرها كلها ممكن@lemmy.ml
        10·
        7 months ago

        I agree, and your question is valid. It is a general humanitarian concern. We are all equally humans. But Zionists have multiple times used Arabs’ and Muslims’ governments failure to act and failure to be principled against the occupation as arguments against the rights of Palestinians.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
      110·
      7 months ago

      Balls to manipulate Turkey into meme votes instead of solving actual issues Turkish people are being affected by? wow

    • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      23·
      7 months ago

      Usually with these types of things, it tends to be worse for the smaller economy, but both suffer. (See Brexit, Sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela, and also historically those on apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia).

      Turkey has a GDP 2-3x that of Israel, so I don’t know why you’d think it would be worse for them.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        44·
        7 months ago

        If I recall correctly, when trade is considered to be zero-sum, the net exporter gains and the net importer loses. Therefore if what’s bad for Israel is what’s good for Turkey and vice versa, this is worse for Turkey.

        Maybe I’m wrong - I wasn’t very good at macroeconomics.

        • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          7 months ago

          I didn’t think I’d find a mercantilist in 2024, but here we are.

          No, that’s not how it works, otherwise the US would be a poor country based on their massive trade deficit.

          Trade takes place because it is mutually beneficial. Each parties gets something out of each trade.

          Reducing trade therefore will always hurts both countries.

          Exactly which loses more will depend on a lot of factors, but in general smaller economies are more dependent on larger economies.

    • Alsephina@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      14·
      7 months ago

      Hopefully this means a pivot to the Global South and away from the West, which is a trend we’ve been seeing for Turkey on occasion. Though I doubt that’ll happen with Erdogan in power.