Turkey has closed its airspace and ports to Israeli aircraft
and ships, cutting all trade and economic ties in protest of Israel’s war on
Gaza.
Fidan made the comments during a Friday speech to the parliament, ostensibly detailing actions Turkey has done or has begun to take against Israel in response to the regime's brutal assault on Gaza, which has claimed the lives of nearly 63,025 Palestinians to date.
"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.
According to a Turkish diplomatic source who spoke to AFP to clarify the minister's comments, Turkey's airspace was "closed to all aircraft carrying weapons (to Israel) and to Israel's official flights."
According to reports last week, Turkish port authorities have started to formally demand that shipping agents provide letters attesting to the fact that ships are not associated with Israel and are not transporting dangerous or military goods that are headed for the occupying force.
The report stated that ships flying the Turkish flag would not be allowed to dock at ports in the seized regions.
According to Fidan's address, Israel is purposefully rendering Gaza uninhabitable "to force its people to leave."
He added that the regime is against the rise of a "new and strong Syria," and he promised that Ankara will not permit such a course of action to continue.
In recent years, Turkey has been a major supporter of a number of terrorist organizations fighting against Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria. One such organization is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which overthrew Assad's government last December.
Ankara had already demanded international action against the regime and said that all trade with Israel would cease.
What exactly does Turkey’s ban on Israeli airspace and ports cover?
Turkey has implemented a "ban" on all official
flights from Israel and commercial flights that are in transit. Presumably,
Israeli planes that carry weapons and technology for military purposes and are
a part of official state cargo cannot travel through Turkish airspace either.
While transit commercial flights may fly through Turkish airspace, the
potential exists that they have been restricted from doing so as weapons and
technology marketed to the civilian sector could also have military
value.
In addition to these aviation restrictions, the maritime restrictions on Israel have taken place as Turkey has banned all cargo shipping with Israel. This includes Turkey banning commercial transactions with ships from Israel at Turkish ports.
Turkey has terminated economic, commercial and trade relations with Israel since May 2024 by implementing a hard cutoff for shipping and commercial transactions with Israel.