Another tourism scandal is “inflamed” in connection with Turkey, the rest of which called for a boycott: Israeli media raise the issue of boycott and refusal of tourism to Turkey by detaining there tourists from Israel, who were arrested for allegedly photographed one of President Erdogan’s palaces.
The background to the scandal is that an Israeli couple, Natalie-Mordi Vakninile, and a Turkish citizen who accompanied them were detained on suspicion of “political or military espionage” for filming President Erdogan’s house from the Kamlik Tower. The couple was detained while photographing Dolmabahçe Palace while taking a boat trip. A lawyer for the detained couple, whose statements were published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said: “Their only crime was photographing Erdogan’s palace while taking a boat trip.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry denies that the arrested couple worked for the state. The arrested vacationers are ordinary tourists who worked as bus drivers in Israel.
As a result, Israel is pushing for a boycott of tourism to Turkey in order to release the affected tourists and punish them for such inadequate treatment. “If the Turks do not have enough of a boycott of the country to release the couple, other, more decisive measures should be considered,” the Israeli media also said, promising that various sanctions would be imposed by the authorities. In particular, other countries, including the United States, Britain, and Germany, were called upon to abandon tourism, as well as to impose sanctions on NGOs originating in Turkey that “undermine Israel’s sovereignty in East Jerusalem.”
There may also be bans on flights to and from Turkey. At the same time, Istanbul Airport acts as an important transfer point for Israeli tourists. It is also important that in prehistoric times, Israeli tourists ranked 16th in terms of attendance in Turkey. in 2019, and in October 2021, the second most visited country of Israeli tourists was Turkey – 11.5% of Israelis went there.
The Israeli government also commented: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the opening of a cabinet meeting on Sunday on initiatives to release the arrested couple: “These are two innocent citizens who happened to be in a difficult situation. I talked to my family yesterday, and we are doing everything we can to solve this problem. ” We will add that on Monday it became known that the arrested Israeli tourists in Turkey decided to be simply deported.
By the way, other tourists, including vacationers at resorts, including Ukrainian vacationers, are “at risk” of detention for unintentional photography of Erdogan’s palaces. The fact is that Erdogan, according to DW, built a lot of palaces worth billions of “state” euros. In addition to the mentioned residence, German journalists “counted” three more palaces. Yes, the Turkish president has a summer residence in Okluk Bay, near the resort of Marmaris. Another palace stands on the shores of Lake Van. There is also a huge new residence in Ankara. And all these palaces are considered forbidden areas for photography – as once the palaces of the former dictator of Tunisia, overthrown in 2011 as a result of the “Arab Spring”.