An İstanbul court on Tuesday handed down a suspended sentence of more than one year to a teacher for leaving letters at ruling party offices demanding an end to trade with Israel, the Karar daily reported.
Yasemin Sürücü was prosecuted for “publicly disseminating misleading information” under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code after delivering the letters to district offices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The İstanbul 19th Criminal Court of First Instance handed down a suspended one-year sentence to Sürücü and put her under supervision for five years. Her lawyer, Bilal Akıncı, said they would appeal.
The case concerns allegations that commercial links with Israel have continued despite the Turkish government’s announcement in May 2024 that it had halted trade over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Opposition politicians, journalists and pro-Palestinian activists have questioned the enforcement of the ban, citing shipping records and a sharp increase in exports declared as destined for Palestine.
The government denies that trade with Israel is continuing.
Sürücü left letters and displayed banners at party offices on August 3, 2025. Her letters addressed alleged continuing trade and oil shipments to Israel through Turkey’s southern port of Ceyhan.
She spent a day in police custody after an AKP official in İstanbul’s Büyükçekmece district filed a complaint in August 2025. While awaiting trial, she was required to report regularly to a police station for approximately a year.
Speaking after the ruling, Akıncı described the prosecution as politically motivated.
He accused the governing parties of pursuing a “hypocritical policy” by supporting pro-Palestinian rallies while allowing people demanding an end to trade with Israel to be detained and prosecuted.
Israel imported $924.1 million in goods from Turkey in 2025, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, despite Ankara’s declared trade embargo. More recently, an investigation by Azerbaijan’s APA news agency documented 11 visits to Israeli ports by six Turkey-linked cargo ships in September 2026. The agency removed the report hours after publication without explanation. Shipping records alone, however, did not establish the cargo’s ownership or prove sales to Israeli buyers.
A January 2026 investigation by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Energy Embargo for Palestine and Progressive International identified at least 57 crude oil shipments from Ceyhan to Israel between May 2024 and December 2025.
Researchers said tankers declared other destinations and switched off their tracking signals before delivering the oil to Israeli ports, findings they supported with satellite imagery and shipping data.
The Trade Ministry has repeatedly rejected allegations that the embargo is being circumvented. In a March 30 statement it said all exports, imports and transit trade with Israel had been stopped since May 2, 2024.
Other critics of the alleged continuing trade have also faced detention. In December 2024 nine protesters were arrested after confronting Erdoğan during a speech at the TRT World Forum in İstanbul over the issue.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
