Israeli café chain boycotting Turkish coffee
Following negative depiction of IDF soldiers in Turkish TV series, Ilan's coffee chain decides to stop selling its Turkish coffee blend. 'This is a cultural boycott, an act of patriotism,' says company's marketing director
Israeli café chain Ilan's has decided to stop selling Turkish coffee. The decision was made on Thursday following the current diplomatic crisis with Turkey and particularly the airing of a Turkish TV series portraying, among others, an IDF soldier shooting a four-year-old Palestinian girl.
Sources in Ilan's claimed that the step was part of a culture boycott against Turkey and that they hoped they would not be alone in it. "All café-lounging residents of Tel Aviv should make their contribution by not drinking Turkish coffee," a source in Ilan's said.
The coffee chain's marketing director, Michal Steg, said that "like the rest of the Israelis, we also were horrified to see disgusting footage of clips showing IDF soldiers supposedly shooting little children.
"We believe anyone can be active in his own way and this is our small and symbolic way of doing that."
"We have decided for the time being to stop selling 'Istanbul coffee' - our Turkish coffee blend, and we shall keep doing it until matters improve," Steg said.
"True, this boycott doesn't have the power to financially damage Turkey, it's not the boycott of IKEA, but it a cultural boycott and an act of patriotism which expresses our unwillingness to associate ourselves with those who act in an almost anti-Semitic fashion," Steg added.
"Above anything else– we are first of all Israelis," she concluded.
