ISTANBUL - President Tayyip Erdogan has hinted that Turkey might consider imposing a ban on imports of some Israeli goods over the killing of Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces on the Gaza border, media reported on Tuesday. Erdogan, who is campaigning for re-election in June, last week hosted Muslim leaders who condemned the events in Gaza and the opening of the United States embassy in Jerusalem.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Bosnia on Sunday, Erdogan said the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had recommended that a boycott be imposed on Israeli goods.
“I hope that OIC member countries implement a boycott decision in line with the recommendation. Consequently, no product should be brought from there any more. Naturally we will assess this situation in the same way,” Hurriyet newspaper reported Erdogan as saying.
A declaration by the OIC on Friday repeated a call for countries to ban “products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets”, referring to goods produced in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.
It did not seek a ban on all Israeli goods.
The declaration also called for “economic restrictions (on) countries, officials, parliaments, companies or individuals” who followed the United States and moved their embassies to Jerusalem. (Reuters)