Turkey has halted all trade with Israel, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories, which prompted strong criticism from the Israeli foreign minister.
“Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” Turkey’s trade ministry said late on Thursday.
“Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, accused Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of acting like a “dictator” after the restrictions were first reported.
Gd, when even fucking Erdogan thinks you’re going too far. I know they’re a usually antagonistic force to the West, but they are a real player in the region, so this is still good pressure on Israel. Even if it happens to be opportunistic.
Turkey/Erdogan aligns with the West most of the time. He’s antagonistic sometimes, and that’s what makes headlines so is the image most people have developed of him. He’s been staunchly pro-Palestine since he took office in 2003, and has had pretty poor relations with Israel for almost the entire last 20 years, so this is not surprising