Türkiye moves to bar Israeli ships from its ports

Türkiye has decided to bar Israeli vessels from using its ports, forbid Turkish ships from using Israeli ports and impose restrictions on planes entering Turkish airspace, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday(August 29).

He provided few details in comments to parliament, which appeared to summarise steps that Türkiye has already taken against Israel over the war in Gaza or has started to implement.

"We have closed off our ports to Israeli ships, and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel's ports. I want to underline that there is no other country that has totally cut its trade with Israel" the minister said.

Türkiye has fiercely criticised Israel's offensive in Gaza and accuses it of committing genocide there, a charge that Israel denies.

Ankara has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it and urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.

Sources told Reuters last week that Turkish port authorities had also started informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.

A source had also said that Turkish-flagged ships would be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports.

"We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel's ports," Fidan told an extraordinary parliamentary session on Israel's attacks on Gaza.

"We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace," he added, without giving details.

The Israeli government did not immediately comment on his remarks.

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