Around 100 people gathered at Ambarlı Port in İstanbul’s Beylikdüzü district late yesterday to block a shipment they believed was headed for Israel, protesting continued trade amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
Social media videos showed demonstrators attempting to disrupt the loading process as police stepped in to disperse the crowd, using tear gas.
“We condemn the disproportionate intervention against the friends of Palestine for the Zionist company ZIM,” the Resistance Tent (Direniş Çadırı) group, one of the organizers of the protest, said on social media, sharing the moments of a brawl between the protesters and officers:
Acil Duyuru!!
— Direniş Çadırı (@direniscadiri) November 1, 2024
Ambarlı liman eylemine biber gazlı müdahale!! Çok sayıda yaşlı, kadın ve çocuğun olduğu barışçıl eyleme polis biber gazlı müdahalede bulunuyor. Siyonist şirket ZIM için Filistin dostlarına orantısız müdahaleyi kınıyoruz! Alanı terk etmiyoruz! pic.twitter.com/to6NgnjI2R
The protest was spurred by calls from several civil society groups, which claimed the shipment contained military supplies bound for Israel.
After the events, the Free Thought and Education Rights Association (Özgür-Der), called for a demonstration at the port today as well, saying, “While genocidal Israel continues its massacres in Gaza without slowing down, it is unacceptable that the ZIM company, one of the biggest supporters of the Zionist gang, continues its trade in Turkey without any obstacles!”
The Resistance Tent group called for a protest march from the Sirkeci Grand Post Office to the Eminönü Square on Nov 3.
Protest erupts at İstanbul port over alleged shipment to Israel
— bianet English (@bianet_eng) November 2, 2024
Pro-Palestinian groups claimed a shipment contained military supplies for Israel and attempted to disrupt it. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The trade minister made a statement in response to the… pic.twitter.com/dw2yilx3Bc
Minister denies trade with Israel
Meanwhile, the government denies any trade with Israel, citing the trade sanctions it implemented due to the Gaza war in May. As last night’s protest unfolded, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat reaffirmed on social media that all trade with Israel has been halted, adding that “Gaza receives uninterrupted humanitarian aid” from Turkey.
Turkey continues trade with only Palestinian territories —the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza— for the needs of the six million people living there, as per an agreement with the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, said the minister. Turkey trades only with importers that are confirmed by Palestinian authorities, he added.
“It has been announced many times by the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy that these goods are used exclusively by Palestine, and it is also understood from our trade data that the aforementioned goods belong to our trade with Palestine,” he wrote. “As a matter of fact, Palestine, which has an annual total import of approximately 7.7 billion dollars in 2022 and a population of nearly 6 million, makes approximately 25% of its indirect or direct imports from our country every year.”
Nevertheless, Turkey’s sanctions on Israel has been met with skepticism as there has been a massive increase in the exports to Palestine since then. According to figures from the Turkish Exporters' Assembly, Turkey’s exports to Palestine increased by approximately 1,200% in July compared to the same month in 2023.
Steel exports to Palestine jumped by 51,000%, and cement exports rose by 453,000%, which especially raises suspicion given the lack of infrastructure in Palestine to use such large quantities of steel and cement.
Israel also imports Azerbaijani oil through Turkey, with the oil from the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline transported to Israel from Turkey’s Mersin port via sea. (VK)