Turkey has removed Israel from its list of countries targeted for export in a move that could discourage local businesses from engaging in trade, according to Hebrew media reports Sunday.
It was the first sanctions that Turkey has taken against Israel since the outbreak of war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip that was prompted by the Palestinian terror group’s massive deadly assault on October 7.
Ankara will stop motivating companies to export to Israel and it won’t subsidize or support business with the Jewish state, Channel 12 reported. The measure is also seen as a signal to businesspeople that if they do go ahead and trade with Israel, the government won’t help them out if there are any complications.
The network did not say when it was decided to remove Israel from the list or if Turkish officials gave any explanation for the move.
Ties between Israel and Turkey have frayed over the war, which began with Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and more than 250 were taken hostage under the cover of thousands of rockets.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza, vowing to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.
Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey after Erdogan accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza. Turkey later also recalled its ambassador from Israel. The Ankara government has backed South Africa in its accusation of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkey at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told Channel 12 the change means, among other things, “to stop encouraging business cooperation between the countries, such as joint conferences of trade associations.”
Cohen Yanarocak gave as an example the Turkish Ministry of Commerce financing in 2022 a large delegation from the food, furniture, and technology industries who came to Israel to develop trade.
In 2013 Israel was the 13th top country for exports from Turkey, with trade amounting to some $5.42 billion, accounting for 2.1 percent of total Turkish export value. Nonetheless, that figure was lower than the $7.2 billion in imports from Israel recorded in 2022.
According to the Turkish transportation ministry, since October 7 some 701 ships — about eight a day — have arrived in Israel from Turkey, the network said. Of those, 480 had begun their journey from Turkey while another 221 started elsewhere and then docked at Turkish ports before continuing their passage to either Haifa or Ashdod in Israel.