, which generally allies with the president, owns a company that acts as a distributor in Turkey for an Israeli agricultural producer, a seeming contradiction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent harsh criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.){kind=link}
An investigative journalist has reported that a lawmaker from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which generally allies with the president, owns a company that acts as a distributor in Turkey for an Israeli agricultural producer, a seeming contradiction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent harsh criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Israel began a brutal attack on Gaza in the aftermath of an unprecedented assault by Hamas militants on October 7 that left some 1,200 people dead in Israel and more than 250 hostages taken to Gaza. The death toll in Gaza now stands at over 33,634, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
According to a tweet by investigative journalist Metin Cihan citing publicly available data, Hilmi Durgun, a member of parliament for the far-right MHP, owns Agrosel Tarım, a company that distributes products from the Haifa Group, an Israeli agricultural company, along with those of several other agricultural producers.
Durgun has said in previous online messages about the war in Gaza that he would like to be on the front lines defending the Palestinians. He also acknowledged selling Israeli products and responded to criticism of hypocrisy, saying he contributes to the development of agriculture in Turkey and relies on imports to do so.
“Our company is engaged in the production of fertilizers and the sale of these fertilizers in the domestic and international markets. Unfortunately, the raw materials necessary for the production of fertilizers can’t be found in our country,” Durgun explained.
He added that according to official data from the Ministry of Agriculture, almost 90 percent of the raw materials for fertilizers, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, are imported from various countries around the world.
Durgun said Haifa is one of the world’s leading sources of producers and suppliers of the raw materials for fertilizers and that it has a significant presence in Turkey.
“Importing or sourcing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which are essential for the sustainability of crop production, is a necessity to meet the needs of Turkish farmers,” Durgun said.
He says that he sees providing access to technology, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery and other goods important for the progress of Turkish agriculture and the fulfillment of global quality standards as a national task.
In his posts Cihan, however, accused companies of forcing farmers to use Israeli and other foreign seed, which could undermine local seed production.
Durgun’s position underscores the contradictory posture of the Erdoğan-aligned MHP, which professes strong support for the Palestinians in Gaza but at the same time has businessmen in its ranks who distribute Israeli products.