Despite Turkish claim that airspace closed to Israeli planes, airlines unaware of any change

Israeli media and some officials are trying to make sense of the latest critical statements made by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan earlier today over the war in Gaza.

Notably, Fidan declared that Turkey has closed its airspace to Israeli planes, but Israeli carriers say they have been given no instructions to that effect.

“Türkiye has cut all trade with Israel, does not allow Turkish ships to go to Israeli ports, and closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft,” said Fidan in an address to parliament.

Israel officials do not believe there is anything new in Fidan’s statements, The Times of Israel has learned, and considers that he was broadly laying out actions Turkey has already taken against Israel, with some inaccuracies.

Last year, Turkey said it was stopping all exports and imports to and from Israel, though some are said to have quietly continued.

The two countries had a trade volume of $6.8 billion in 2023, and Turkey was Israel’s fifth-largest source of imported goods. Israel and Turkey have free trade agreements from the mid-1990s that are now being violated.

In April, Turkish carriers waived their flight slots at Ben Gurion Airport.

For many years, Istanbul was a popular destination for Israeli tourists, many of whom were flying on Turkey’s airlines and using Atatürk Airport as a cheaper option for connecting flights to destinations in Europe and elsewhere. Before the war, Turkish Airlines was the fourth-largest carrier at Ben Gurion Airport.

Despite Fidan’s statement, Israeli planes for now are still flying over Turkish airspace, and have received no instructions to do otherwise, Army Radio reports.

“Following reports about Turkey’s decision to close its airspace to Israeli planes, Arkia is in contact with the relevant authorities,” the Israeli airline tells The Times of Israel. “At this stage, no operational instructions have been received.”

Israir also tells The Times of Israel that “the airspace has not been closed.”

“Our flights are operating as scheduled with no changes, and we are in regular contact with the Civil Aviation Authority,” says the carrier.

However, one expert sees the foreign minister’s talk of closing Turkish airspace to Israel as credible and dramatic.

“Turkey is adopting a gradual punishment strategy against Israel,” says Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Turkey expert at the Moshe Dayan Center. “When Israel declared its intention to launch an invasion of Gaza City, Ankara imposed naval sanctions that barred Israeli ships from visiting Turkish ports. And today, following news that the IDF launched an extraterritorial raid against Syrian army outposts, where Turkey had intelligence devices to track the activities of Israeli troops, Ankara made a new decision and shut down its airspace to Israeli planes.”

“This move is certainly unprecedented, and it will not be easy to reverse in the future.”

Sharon Wrobel contributed to this report.