© Mert Gokhan Koc/dia images/Getty ImagesForeign Minister Hakan Fidan
Türkiye has severed all commercial and economic ties with Israel, as well as closing its airspace to some Israeli flights, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced. The two countries have been at odds for months over Israel's military campaign in Gaza, with Türkiye accusing the country of committing genocide.
In an address to the national parliament on Friday, Fidan said:
"Türkiye has completely cut off our trade with Israel and closed our ports to Israeli ships. We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace."Fidan also said Turkish-flagged ships are barred from calling at Israeli ports, and Israeli vessels are barred from Turkish ports.
A Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters that the flight restrictions only target official Israeli flights and planes with weapons or ammunition, not routine transit by commercial carriers.
The agency also reported that Turkish port authorities are now informally requiring shipping agents to attest that vessels are not linked to Israel and are not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.
However, an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post that Türkiye had "already announced severing economic relations with Israel in the past, and the relations continued," apparently referring to Ankara's suspension of imports and exports in May.
The minister's comments are the latest indication of deteriorating relations between Türkiye and Israel, which have been strained by the war in Gaza. The conflict began with a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel in October 2023, prompting a retaliatory operation against the Palestinian enclave.
Türkiye has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel denies. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "the butcher of Gaza," at one point suggesting that the scope of his war crimes surpassed those committed by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
In 2023, Türkiye recalled its ambassador from Israel, and in 2024, it severed all diplomatic ties.
Reader Comments
Two million is yada yada
People across the world are now revisiting the history they were taught at schools regarding the 'holocaust'. The isreali apartheid regime has inadvertently shot itself in the foot with its actual holocaust in Palestine. No one race or religious cult can plead holocaust suffrage and victimhood and then go on to inflict this crime on another race or religious cult and remain blameless.
The countries of Serbia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, ad nauseam, were all attacked and invaded for much less.
The control that the USadmin has over the UN means the UN organisation is a dead duck. It's very probably time that the remainder of the world did something themselves and not worry about what the UN says or does. The USadmin and the isreali apartheid regime have done this for decades with no repercussions. The USadmin is in fact aiding and abetting an international criminal. So much for the Trumpster and his 'peace missions'. It's no wonder his aproval rating is now 30% and falling.
But perhaps that had helped : [Link]