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Economic Ties Grow between Israel and Turkey
(Zaman-Turkey) Busra Ozerli - The rapprochement between Turkey and Israel is moving slowly, yet trade figures indicate the blossoming of economic activity between the two countries. Data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) say there was an increase of 56% in exports to Israel in May 2013 compared to the same month of the previous year. Imports from Israel increased 22% compared to the figures of May 2012. From January to May 2013, Turkey's exports to Israel totaled over $1 billion, while imports from Israel were also around $1 billion. Shmaya Avieli, director of the Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT) at the Israel Ministry of Defense, stated that defense exports between Turkey and Israel never halted, underlining that these export contracts mainly consisted of past contracts, but that there are also requests from Turkey for new transactions.