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Consequences of Israel's Six-Year Break with Turkey
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - The six-year break in relations between Israel and Turkey had a number of unintended but significant consequences. In 2008, 560,000 Israelis vacationed in Turkey; by 2011 the number of Israeli tourists fell to 79,000. In 2009, the two countries did $2.6 billion in bilateral trade; by 2014 that number jumped to $5.4 billion. After the Syrian civil war prevented Turkish exports through Syria to Arab countries and the Persian Gulf, in 2015 more than 10,000 Turkish trucks arrived by sea to Haifa, then drove across Israel to Jordan and points east. The breakdown of ties with Turkey led to a significant warming of Israel's ties with Cyprus and Greece - both bitter historic rivals of Turkey. In the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident, Ankara canceled more than a dozen arms deals with Israel and ended the use of Turkish airspace for training by the Israel Air Force. Alternative locales for training were found in Romania and Bulgaria.