Hamas-Israel war: The Turkish parliament, controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, banned Coca-Cola and Nestle goods from its eateries’ menus on Tuesday due to the firms’ purported backing of Israel in the country’s continuing conflict with Hamas militants.
“It was decided that the products of companies that support Israel will not be sold in restaurants, cafeterias, and tea houses in the parliament campus,” the Turkish parliament said in a statement.
The decision was announced by Speaker of the Parliament Numan Kurtulmus, yet the corporations were not named in the announcement. The only companies eliminated were Coca-Cola drinks and Nestle instant coffee, according to a source familiar with the proceedings who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
This decision was made in response to popular demand. Campaigners have been urging people to boycott Israeli products and Western businesses that back Israel’s assault on Gaza on social media. Israel’s shelling of Gaza and the West’s backing for Jerusalem have drawn harsh criticism from Turkey’s leadership.
According to the Turkish ministry of commerce, trade between Turkey and Israel has decreased by half since the war’s beginning when compared to the same period previous year.
Turkey said that it has called back its ambassador to Israel to discuss Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza Strip population and the worsening humanitarian situation within the beleaguered region.
Due to security concerns, Israeli officials departed Turkey last month when numerous pro-Palestinian protests broke out all around the nation. Later, the ministry of foreign affairs said that the diplomats had been asked back to evaluate the status of bilateral ties.
Since Hamas attackers killed 1,400 people and took 240 prisoners during an assault on southern Israel one month ago, Israel has been bombarding Gaza.
Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s attack, including almost 4,100 youngsters, according to Gaza health officials. Over the past month, there have been protests against Israeli activities in Gaza on social media and in the streets by hundreds of thousands of Turks.
