According to Bloomberg’s sources, Turkey has suspended all exports and imports between the two countries.
Turkey has stopped trading with Israel, reports the financial news agency Bloomberg.
According to two Turkish officials who remain anonymous, Turkey has suspended all exports and imports between the two countries since Thursday. Turkey has not officially announced the end of trade with Israel.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the value of trade between the two countries was 6.8 billion dollars (about 6.4 billion euros) in 2023. The value of Turkish exports to Israel was about 5.4 billion dollars (about five billion euros) last year.
Turkey restricted trade with Israel in early April because of the war in Gaza. At that time, the country’s Ministry of Trade banned, among other things, the export of various construction materials and products used for military purposes to Israel, Bloomberg reports.
of Israel foreign minister Israel Katz said the Turkish president on Thursday Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s violating agreements by blocking Israeli exports and imports.
“This is how a dictator behaves, who does not care about the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen or about international trade agreements,” he wrote on the messaging service in X Thursday evening.
Turkey and Israel’s relationship has been quite contentious in recent years.
For example, in 2018, Turkey recalled its diplomats from Israel and evicted Israel’s ambassador. The two countries normalized their relations in 2022, but the war in Gaza turned relations to a new low.
Last October, Israel announced it was withdrawing its diplomats from Turkey after President Erdoğan had said Israel was acting “like a war criminal”.