The Turkish Ministry of Trade announced on Tuesday in a statement that it will be imposing export restrictions on Israel. Turkey’s ultra-Islamist New Welfare Party campaigned on the issue of trade embargo on Israel, capturing a 7% share of the vote, most of which migrated from AKP. Over the weekend, Islamist-inspired anti-Israel demonstrations rocked Istanbul and Konya, with dozens of arrests and complaints of excessive use of force by the police. At the end, Erdogan seems to have yielded to pressures from his right wing to take a step that is certain to elicit retaliation from Israel and hurt tourist trade.
The ministry detailed that the decision becomes effective today, with 54 products and raw materials on the list, among which are ceramics, fertilizers, marble, steel and others.
“Israel has been carrying out a massacre in the Gaza Strip for more than six months … The number of victims is over 33,000 and the number of injured is over hundreds of thousands. The majority of them are women and children. The Gaza Strip has suffered great destruction,” the ministry said.
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that Turkey would take certain measures against Israel following Israel’s refusal to grant aerial access to Gaza for humanitarian air drops.
This development occurred after the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered a defeat in the 31 March local elections, losing votes to the Turkish Islamist New Welfare Party (YRP), which managed to secure victories over the AKP in several cities.
There is a consensus that the country’s economic problems, including declining real pensions and salaries amid runaway inflation, played a primary role in the AKP’s electoral defeat.
While Turkey’s continuing trade with Israel was not the biggest issue prompting conservative voters to stay home or switch parties, it was a factor among others, which even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged during a party meeting earlier this week on the election results, according to party sources.
Speaking about the AKP’s worst election defeat since 2002, Erdogan said on last week: “Unfortunately, even on an issue like the Gaza crisis, for which we did everything we could and paid the price, we failed to fend off political attacks and convince some people.”
From October 7 to March 20 this year, the total Türkiye-Israel trade volume fell by nearly 33 percent, according to information compiled by the Anadolu news agency from sources in the ministry.
Meanwhile, Türkiye’s exports to Israel fell 30 percent, while its imports decreased by 43.4 percent.
Turkish nationals and companies have been gradually cancelling sales and orders with Israel, while trade is mostly with private firms, including some international ones, rather than state enterprises.
Goods sent from Türkiye to Palestine pass through Israel and its customs gates due to Palestine’s lack of its own customs facilities.
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