Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that the country has closed its ports and airspace to Israeli ships and planes a move reflecting the deteriorating relations between Turkey and Israel amid the on going conflicts in Gaza.
Ankara has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the region, a claim that Israel has firmly rejected.
Fidan stated in a televised address that Turkey would not allow Turkish ships to enter Israeli ports and would block container ships carrying weapons and ammunition from accessing Turkish ports. He emphasised that the airspace would be closed to all aircrafts transporting weapons to Israel and to official Israel flights.
According to a Turkish diplomatic source, the airspace restriction is applied specifically to “official” flights, although it remains unclear when these measures were implemented.In recent months, Turkey has already demonstrated its stance by denying overflight rights to Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s plane in November, which led to the cancellation of the trip to the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan.
Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to cancel a visit to Baku in May due to Turkey’s refusal to grant overflight permission.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s largest shipping company ZIM announced that it had been informed of new regulations implemented by Ankara on August 22.
These regulations state that “vessels that are either owned, managed or operated by an entity related to Israel will not be permitted to berth in Turkish ports”.
This information was disclosed in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where ZIM warned that the new regulations are expected to have a “negative impact on the company’s financial and operational results”.
The ban also applies to other ships carrying military cargo destined for Israel. Additionally, Turkish flagged vessels will be prohibited from docking in Israeli ports.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan publicly acknowledged the ban during an emergency session on the Gaza crisis, emphasising that “no other country has cut off trade with Israel”.
Turkish officials have reiterated that all trade ties with Israel have severed asserting that normalisation will not occur as long as the Gaza conflict persists.
However, some opposition figures in Turkey have accused the government of allowing trade to continue particularly pointing to oil shipments from Azerbaijan that transit through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in Turkey. These claims have been dismissed by Turkey’s energy ministry as “completely unfounded”.
Notably, while Azerbaijan has historically been one of Israel’s main oil suppliers, recent data from Azerbaijan’s state customs website no longer lists Israel among its oil purchasers, as reported earlier this year by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
