Turkiye’s decision to cut trade ties with Israel came 7 months too late

After seven months of the fierce Zionist war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Turkiye has finally woken up, and the Erdogan government has suspended all trade with the occupation state of Israel and closed its ports to Israeli ships. The decision, though, came seven months too late.

More than 120,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded since October, most of them children and women; thousands of others still lie under the rubble of their homes, presumed dead; civilians have been massacred after being dragged from hospitals, and buried hastily in mass graves. The civilian infrastructure has been utterly devastated, including homes, hospitals, schools and places of Islamic and Christian worship. In short, the whole Gaza Strip has basically been rendered unliveable. It took all of that to happen before Turkiye decided to act.

Why did President Erdogan wait so long? And why act now?

It could be that the major setback that his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) suffered in the local elections in March had an impact on his decision-making, with the local governments in Turkiye’s six major cities all won by the opposition. This seems to have prompted Erdogan to reconsider his policies towards the Zionist enemy and his position on Gaza in the hope of winning back some lost popularity, which shone across the Islamic world before the Israeli offensive started in October, but soon dimmed thereafter.

Perhaps the Turkish leader realised that limiting his action on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza to speeches critical of the apartheid state and its leadership was not going to achieve much. His words paled into insignificance when he could, had he been more decisive, have severed ties with Israel, as countries in Latin America did. Closing the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv is the least that should have been done. Apparently, some of his erstwhile supports spoiled their ballot papers by writing “You failed Gaza, so we failed you” on them.

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There is no doubt that Erdogan’s decisions over the past seven months did not help him to understand that a “pragmatic politician” may not be understood by supporters when it comes to positions that affect the core of their ideological beliefs, whether secular or religious. The image of a Zionist in the Turkish mind, especially a Muslim Turkish mind, is negative, and if we add the ongoing Israeli barbarism and cruelty, which is being criticised by people of conscience across the world, including some of Israel’s allies, this throws into question Erdogan’s judgement when it comes to his pragmatism and the sensitivities of his ideological audience in Turkiye and elsewhere.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mentioned the Biblical Amalekites in his genocidal rhetoric in his efforts to stoke up ethnonationalist feelings in the occupation state and provoke Muslims. His ministers have dehumanised the Palestinians, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant describing them as “human animals”, which is no less provocative. Gallant also cut off all water, electricity and fuel supplies, imposing a total blockade on more than two and a quarter million Palestinians. Turkiye’s Muslims were solidly behind the Palestinians, but their president took the path of pragmatism in his relationship with the Zionist entity, and duly paid the price at the ballot box.

The issue now is not about Turkiye waking up to what’s going on in occupied Palestine having been inattentive, as much as realising that its political future is under threat. The Turkish position on the Zionist state, especially if Netanyahu takes even worse steps in Rafah, may become more hostile, despite Erdogan’s longstanding pragmatism.

By the end of 2023, Turkiye’s trade with Israel was valued at more than $6.8 billion. Whatever the motives behind Ankara’s decision to suspend this lucrative trading arrangement, it has prompted the Zionist government to accuse President Erdogan of violating international agreements and acting like a dictator against the interests of the Turkish people and businesses.

His “consideration” of the matter is a turning point in the relationship between Turkiye and Israel, although we had hoped that Erdogan’s position would develop into a radical shift in the relationship with the occupation entity, given our knowledge it is a legacy of the founder of the modern Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan is stuck with this legacy, though, and appears to have no option but to follow it.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.