One-fourth of import seeds coming from Israeli firms

Turkey is continuing to import nearly 25 percent of its seeds from Israel despite the ongoing diplomatic disputes between Ankara and Tel Aviv, according to the head of a Turkish agricultural association. "Turkey imported $62 million in vegetable seeds from Israel in the first seven months of this year," Ibrahim Yetkin of the Turkey's Agriculturalists' Association said yesterday. In the first seven months of this year, Turkey imported tomatoes seeds for $14.5 million, cucumber seeds for $323,000, onion seeds for $12,000 and lettuce seeds for $11,000 from Israel. The total figure of $62 million means that "25 percent of the seeds still come from Israel," Yetkin said.