Turkey and Israel: business as usual after the Mavi Marmara
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Turkey’s top officials declared, following the attack, that Israel would suffer the consequences, describing the incident as “state terror.” Yet although Turkey has taken political measures against Israel, including downgrading diplomatic relations to the level of second secretary, boycotting Israel’s national day reception held by its embassy in Ankara and suspending all military agreements, it has so far not taken any concrete economic measures as part of this response.
In fact, on the trade front, business continues as usual. Last year mutual trade significantly increased. In 2011, imports from Israel reached an all-time high with $2 billion; the figure was only $1.360 billion the previous year, while the exports amounted to $2.4 billion, up from $2 billion in 2010, the year in which the Mavi Marmara, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was raided on May 31.
In the first three months of 2012, mutual trade kept up the pace of the previous year at $1 billion, but with a significant rise compared to the same period in 2011, when the figure was $770 million.