In Turkey, it has been estimated that the continued trade with Israel affected the outcome of the March elections. Now exports to Israel are limited.
Leader of the extremist group Hamas Isma’il Haniyya has arrived in Istanbul where he will meet the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan has not told in advance what is to be discussed during the visit. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fida met with Haniyya in Qatar earlier in the week and discussed efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
The war in Gaza affected the local elections
Erdoğan may need to raise his profile. The local elections at the end of March went badly for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, AKP. There is also a connection to the Gaza war in the background.
Turkey’s trade relations with Israel came to the fore perhaps somewhat unexpectedly in the elections, when the small Islamist New Welfare Party grabbed votes from the AKP.
In its campaign, the party talked about continued trade with Israel in addition to local issues. The criticism apparently resonated with some of Erdoğan’s core religious voters.
It has been claimed in the media that Erdoğan’s inner circle also played a role in the deal.
President has filed a criminal complaint supplier Metin from Cihanwho claimed that the president’s son Burak would be involved in the operation of a shipping company transporting cargo to Israel. According to Cihan, also the former prime minister from the AKP background Binali Yıldırım the boy would be involved In the Israel trade.
Erdoğan talks hard about Netanyahu
President Erdoğan has indeed criticized Israel harshly for the civilian casualties of the Gaza attack.
Among other things, Erdoğan has compared the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin and characterized him as the butcher of Gaza.
While Erdoğan set Netanyahu and Israel, Turkish-Israeli trade continued. In recent years, Israel has become a major trading partner and the trade is strongly surplus to Turkey. In 2023, exports increased to more than five billion dollars.
Chemical industry products, steel and cement have been exported from Turkey to Israel. Less than two weeks ago, however, Turkey banned the export of more than 50 products to Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
The decision was justified With Israel’s decision to reject Turkey’s participation in airdrops of humanitarian aid in Gaza. The opposition criticized restrictions by immediately saying that they come too late and are insufficient.
Turkey sought the role of mediator
In the early stages of the Gaza war following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, Erdoğan said he was ready to mediate. It is known that Turkey has not played any significant role in brokerage companies. Instead, Qatar has been a mediator in attempts to agree on a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Haniyya, who is characterized as the political leader of Hamas, has been in contact with Erdoğan’s administration for a long time. He last met with President Erdoğan in July 2023, when Turkey tried to mediate between Hamas and the Fatah movement that controls the West Bank.
Al-Monitor online publication and the BBC information from the Turkish language department Haniyya would have been in Turkey when Hamas launched its terrorist attack on Israel in October.
Erdoğan might be interested in the new mediator role. However, comparing the Prime Minister of Israel to Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini is not a very good starting point for the mediation task.