In the three months that Israel has been bombing Palestine, the volume of trade between Israel and Turkey has reached $1.3 billion. The bosses' trade in capital goods and raw materials was more than double the consumer trade.
Uğur ZENGİN
İstanbul
As Israel's bombardment of Palestine continued for the past three months and twenty-four days, Turkey's exports to Israel increased by 31.81 percent in December compared to November. In November, Turkey's exports to Israel amounted to $300,253,000, while in December this figure rose to $396,253,000.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, exports to Israel for the whole of 2023 will amount to $5,175,605,000, while imports from Israel in 2023 will amount to $1,622,000.
Throughout 2023, exports and imports of capital goods and raw materials exceeded exports and imports of consumer goods. With capital goods exports of $400,724,000 to Israel in 2023, capital goods imports of $78.3 million were made.
Similarly, the amount of raw material imports made by Turkish bosses from Israel was $1.4 billion for the whole year, while raw material exports to Israel were worth $2.7 billion for the whole of 2023.
As a result, the volume of trade in capital goods and raw materials with Israel in 2023 was $4,646,000,000.
While $2 billion worth of consumer goods were exported to Israel in 2023, $122 million worth of consumer goods were imported. The volume of trade in consumer goods was $2.1 billion. Thus, the Bosses' production-oriented imports and exports were more than double their consumption-oriented imports and exports.
Israel's attacks on Palestine began on 7 October 2023. The amount of exports the bosses made to Israel in November was 300,623,000 dollars. In December, exports increased by 31.81 per cent to 396,253,000 dollars.
Ferrous metal exports to Israel from Turkey, which holds 65 percent of the Israeli ferrous metal market, increased by 77 percent in December compared to the previous month. Exports worth $31.6 million in November rose to $55.1 million in December.
Ferrous metal bosses were the main contributors to the increase in exports in December.
It has emerged that the leading exporter of ferrous metals from Turkey to Israel, İÇTAŞ, a member of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, has been exporting steel to the Israeli city of Haifa since 8 October.
İÇTAŞ, which is a member of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, has received awards from Erdoğan for its previous exports and from Director of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş for building the largest mosque in Çanakkale.
Director of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş said on a television channel: "Wherever there is one of our attentive brothers, whom our voice reaches at home or abroad, I remind him: let's continue the boycott".
Referring to Israel's attacks on Palestine, which are now almost in their fourth month, Erbaş said, "What they called a state there in 1948, we now consider the same as a terrorist organisation. That means something that acts like a terrorist organisation cannot be a country. Babies, children, women, the elderly and the innocent are dying under a shower of bombs. In three months, about 25,000 innocent people, including 11,000 babies and children and 7,000 women, have died under the bombs".
He said: "Our Palestinian cause is a century old. This was once our territory. The liberation of Palestine depends on our growing stronger. God willing, we will grow stronger and Palestine will be liberated; that's what we believe," Erbaş recalled that they had called for a boycott of Israeli goods about three months ago and said, "Wherever there is one of our attentive brothers whom our voice reaches at home or abroad, I remind him: let's continue the boycott.
Yusuf Karadaş
