Turkey completely severes economic ties, closes airspace to Israel

Detours caused by the closed airspace could increase the travel time of flights from Israel to countries like Georgia and Azerbaijan by almost two hours.

Turkey has decided to completely sever all commercial and economic ties with Israel and is closing its airspace to Israeli planes, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday.

While the economic consequences of this move are yet to be seen, detours caused by the closed airspace could increase the travel time of flights from Israel to countries such as Georgia and Azerbaijan by almost two hours.

An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post: "Turkey has already announced severing economic relations with Israel in the past (and the relations continued)."

The move comes following reports that Turkish port authorities have begun informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.