Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference at the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on May 18, 2018. (AFP photo)
ANKARA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will review to impose embargo to Israel after June 24 general elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
As Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has taken a advisory decision to boycott Israeli products in the extraordinary summit last week, Turkey will review its economic ties with Israel after the upcoming June 24 elections, daily Hurriyet quoted Erdogan as saying on Tuesday.
"I hope the OIC members will put the decision of the embargo into practice. After all, there will be no way to get any products from them (Israel) anymore. Of course we will assess the situation, too," Erdogan told a group of journalists on the presidential plane on his way from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Turkey late Sunday.
"As Turkey, we will review our ties, particularly economic and trade relations with them (Israel). We will take steps in this direction after the elections," he added.
Erdogan noted that a peace force by the United Nations that will protect Palestinians should "deter" Israel.
"It will not be easy for Israel to fire at the United Nations forces," he said, referring to an OIC call to the UN for establishing a peace force.
The OIC held an extraordinary meeting in Istanbul on Friday and discussed recent Israeli violence against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that were protesting the U.S. move of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The OIC's communique had declared "determination to take the appropriate political, economic and other measures" against countries which follow the U.S. move in recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move their embassies from Tel Aviv there.
Turkey strongly condemned the U.S. move, and has declared a three-day mourning for the Palestinians killed in clashes. It also called for an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Turkey was among the most vocal countries in slamming the incident and responded by calling its ambassador in Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. back to Ankara for consultations.
Turkish Foreign Ministry asked Israeli Ambassador Eitan Naeh to return to his country "for a while." In response, Israel called its ambassador back too, while asking the Turkish consular to leave the country.
Turkey-Israel relations were on the track of healing after years of crisis which began in 2010, when a Turkish-led flotilla sent to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip ended in a clash with Israeli forces, leading to the death of 10 Turkish citizens.
In 2016, the ties were normalized with a rapprochement agreement after Netanyahu apologized for the incident. Israel paid 20 million U.S. dollars in compensation for the Turkish deaths.
