ANKARA — Turkey will suspend all trade ties with Israel, the Trade Ministry announced Thursday.
The ministry said the decision marks the second step in measures Turkey began taking in April by imposing a series of export restrictions on trade with Israel.
“The Israeli government continues its aggressive stance and, as can be observed, the humanitarian tragedy in Palestine is worsening,” the official statement said.
“All import and export transactions with Israel have been suspended for all products. Turkey will strictly and resolutely implement the new measures until the Israeli government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the late-night statement added.
The ministry added that it was working with relevant departments within the Palestinian Authority to ensure that Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank are not affected by the suspension. The move was first reported by Bloomberg on the same day.
Israeli Foreign Minister Katz also said separately that Ankara had begun blocking Israeli imports and exports at Turkish ports.
“This is the behavior of a dictator who ignores the interests of Turkish people and businessmen and disregards international trade agreements,” Katz wrote on the social media platform X.
Katz accused Turkey of violating trade agreements and said he had instructed the Israeli Foreign Ministry to pursue trade alternatives focused on “local production and imports from other countries.”
At the time of writing, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had not disclosed which ports had been blocked or whether Turkey’s measures also relate to third-country trade with Israel.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports to Israel via Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan have come under scrutiny in Turkey amid growing public anger over the war in Gaza.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry is currently investigating the economic impact of Turkey’s decision to suspend exports, a diplomatic source told Al-Monitor.
Israeli media reported early Thursday that Israeli traders have already started facing difficulties transporting cargo to and from Israel.
Turkey imposed trade restrictions on 54 product groups in April in what was widely seen as a response to domestic pressure to halt trade ties with Turkey amid a growing humanitarian toll in the Gaza Strip. The April restrictions, however, did not affect Turkish imports from Israel.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was $5.4 billion last year, according to official data.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Wednesday that Turkey would join South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice as the UN’s International Court of Justice examines South Africa’s claim that Israel’s actions violated the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
In addition to attacking Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has over the past week stepped up his criticism of the Biden administration’s support for the Jewish state.
“Good-hearted students and scholars from American universities, including anti-Zionist Jews, are speaking out against the genocide,” Erdogan said in Ankara on Thursday, adding that “these people are being subjected to violence, brutality, oppression and even torture just for saying, ‘The genocide in Gaza must stop.'”
A visit by the Turkish president to the White House, scheduled for May 9, was postponed last week, with officials from both countries citing scheduling conflicts.
This developing story has been updated since original publication.
