Abstract:

Although Turkey’s foreign trade with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries is in the shadow of its fluctuating political relations, it has shown remarkable developments especially in the last two decades. The political, economic and military nature of the Middle East region, which is open to foreign interventions, has led to tensions and crises in the relations of the countries of the region, especially since the 2000s, and this situation has put Turkish foreign trade under pressure. Turkey’s political crisis environment with Israel, Egypt, Syria and the United Arab Emirates has entered a period of softening in recent years, with the steps taken to compensate for the losses. In this study, the effect of the said process on Turkey's commercial relations with the Middle East countries is discussed in terms of the development of Turkey-Israel foreign trade volume. In this framework, it has been investigated whether there is a convergence in foreign trade between 1989-2021 in selected Middle Eastern countries (Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey). According to the results obtained, it has been determined that the foreign trade of selected Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey, converges to Israel, and the foreign trade of selected Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, converges to Turkey. As a result, it is seen that Turkey's commercial relations with Israel and other regional countries have prevented diplomatic crises.

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