Israel and Turkey are learning to be friends against each other
After a serious conflict over the so-called Turkish "Flotilla Freedom ”, which was sent to the Gaza Strip, and against which force was used by Israeli special forces, relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv have deteriorated dramatically. Diplomatic missions were left without ambassadors and ambassadors, and Turkish and Israeli prime ministers too often began to express extremely negative opinions about each other. Against this background, each of the conflicting parties is trying to enlist the support of other states in order to increase its pressure on a regional scale.
In this regard, the recent diplomatic achievement of one of the parties to the geopolitical “hassle”, namely Israel, was the signing of a number of agreements with the Republic of Cyprus. At the end of February, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Cyprus on a working visit, but the Cypriots didn’t organize a meeting for him at all, not a worker, but an official one: with a guard of honor, smiling children with bouquets of flowers and welcoming cries from the people of Nicosia. What is the reason for such unexpected love for Benjamin Netanyahu from the Cypriot side, and what is the reason for the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to Nicosia, considering that history the existence of the State of Israel, this trip of the Prime Minister to the island of Cyprus was generally the first ...
The thing is that official Nicosia has 1974, to put it mildly, strained relations with Ankara, if mutual reproaches can be called relations at all. It was that year that the Turkish army landed on the island and carried out Operation Attila on the pretext that the new authorities of Cyprus would infringe upon the rights and freedoms of the Turkish population of the island. After the Turkish invasion, which the superpowers looked at through their fingers, about 40% of the island’s territory came under actual control from Ankara. In 1983, this territory became known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with its capital in Nicosia, which is also the capital of the rest of Cyprus. The TRNC is today partly recognized by the state. There are three, let's say, territories in the world that recognize the independence of Northern Cyprus. This is Abkhazia, which has recently developed very warm relations with Ankara, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which is a part of Azerbaijan, and, of course, Turkey, which can be considered the godmother of the TRNC.
So the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Cyprus, namely to the Republic of Cyprus, is a frank attempt to demonstrate Turkey in general and Erdogan in particular, the further course of confrontation. The Turkish authorities saw in Netanyahu’s visit attempts to put pressure on Ankara, and therefore, from their words, Ankara can adequately respond to Israel. What Turkish officials had in mind remains a mystery, but the fact that Netanyahu’s visit really deserves close attention and is clearly directed against Turkey is a simple fact.
As a result of this visit, the leaders of Cyprus and Israel agreed on several very significant issues. Now Israeli military aircraft will be able to freely use the airspace of that part of the island, which is not controlled by the Turks. In addition, cooperation in the military sphere between Nicosia and Tel Aviv involves the use of the Cypriot ports to call them Israeli warships. In economic terms, Netanyahu and Cyprus President Christofias signed an agreement on the joint development of a gas field, which was discovered with the help of American specialists on the Cyprus shelf. Many analysts, both in Cyprus and Israel, believe that such agreements will not only benefit the economic development of the two states, but will also guarantee the security of Cyprus from new Turkish claims. Indeed, in Ankara, immediately after official Nicosia announced the development of a gas field, it was stated that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (and in fact Turkey itself) has the full right to pump gas from offshore depths, because the TRNC is another independent state located on the island. However, Israel has come to the aid of the Republic of Cyprus in its hot disputes in absentia over blue fuel, which has angered Erdogan, who is trying in every way to position himself as the main regional player. But, apparently, Tel Aviv’s opinion on Erdogan’s leadership is different, and Israel will continue to try to weaken Turkey’s influence in the region.
It should be noted that Israel has its own gas fields geologically connected with fields on the shelf of Cyprus. In Tel Aviv, while still in fairly warm relations with Ankara, they repeatedly stated that soon Israeli gas would not only fully provide the domestic market, but would also flow to southern Europe through Turkey. In Turkey, this was only welcome, but the conflict ruined these plans. However, Israel decided not to give up the idea of acting as an exporter of blue fuel to Europe. Only the transportation route had to be significantly adjusted. Israel has plans to launch gas through Cyprus. It is planned that in the near future the Israelis will build a large gas storage facility on the island, which will be a “transit” point for Israeli gas.
It turns out that the Freedom Flotilla continues to go sideways for Turkey. Obviously, in terms of the search for regional allies, Tel Aviv jumped around Ankara and wants to build on its success. And what about Turkey? Whom she managed to write to her allies. Frankly, so far not every Islamic country today craves to see Ankara the capital of the Muslim world. In addition, Turkey behaves far from always consistently. For example, today Ankara is trying to support the Syrian opposition, although the new “Libya” in Turkey at its side will not be the best option for further development. On the other direction is Iran, which today could be a good ally for Turkey as opposed to Israel. However, Ankara is confused with relations with the United States and NATO, and therefore the obvious advantages of pragmatic relations with Iran are probably visible to it, but who now will allow Erdogan to take such a step? Ankara's friendship with Tehran against Tel Aviv would be an adequate response to Netanyahu. But…
In such a situation, the Turkish prime minister remains to remind that it is sometimes very difficult for one person to hold onto two, and even more so on three or four chairs. After all, today Turkey: a) wants to be the center of the Islamic world; b) is trying to continue integration into Europe; c) seeks to remain a full member of NATO and a friend of the United States; d) by all means looking for ways to “annoy” Israel. And desires, as we know, do not always coincide with the possibilities, so Erdogan, sooner or later, will have to give up one of the chairs on which he is trying to sit.
Obviously, the search for allies by Israel and Turkey will continue, but now for any alliance has to pay a substantial price. Who allies will get "with discounts" is a big question ...
In this regard, the recent diplomatic achievement of one of the parties to the geopolitical “hassle”, namely Israel, was the signing of a number of agreements with the Republic of Cyprus. At the end of February, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Cyprus on a working visit, but the Cypriots didn’t organize a meeting for him at all, not a worker, but an official one: with a guard of honor, smiling children with bouquets of flowers and welcoming cries from the people of Nicosia. What is the reason for such unexpected love for Benjamin Netanyahu from the Cypriot side, and what is the reason for the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to Nicosia, considering that history the existence of the State of Israel, this trip of the Prime Minister to the island of Cyprus was generally the first ...
The thing is that official Nicosia has 1974, to put it mildly, strained relations with Ankara, if mutual reproaches can be called relations at all. It was that year that the Turkish army landed on the island and carried out Operation Attila on the pretext that the new authorities of Cyprus would infringe upon the rights and freedoms of the Turkish population of the island. After the Turkish invasion, which the superpowers looked at through their fingers, about 40% of the island’s territory came under actual control from Ankara. In 1983, this territory became known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with its capital in Nicosia, which is also the capital of the rest of Cyprus. The TRNC is today partly recognized by the state. There are three, let's say, territories in the world that recognize the independence of Northern Cyprus. This is Abkhazia, which has recently developed very warm relations with Ankara, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which is a part of Azerbaijan, and, of course, Turkey, which can be considered the godmother of the TRNC.
So the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Cyprus, namely to the Republic of Cyprus, is a frank attempt to demonstrate Turkey in general and Erdogan in particular, the further course of confrontation. The Turkish authorities saw in Netanyahu’s visit attempts to put pressure on Ankara, and therefore, from their words, Ankara can adequately respond to Israel. What Turkish officials had in mind remains a mystery, but the fact that Netanyahu’s visit really deserves close attention and is clearly directed against Turkey is a simple fact.
As a result of this visit, the leaders of Cyprus and Israel agreed on several very significant issues. Now Israeli military aircraft will be able to freely use the airspace of that part of the island, which is not controlled by the Turks. In addition, cooperation in the military sphere between Nicosia and Tel Aviv involves the use of the Cypriot ports to call them Israeli warships. In economic terms, Netanyahu and Cyprus President Christofias signed an agreement on the joint development of a gas field, which was discovered with the help of American specialists on the Cyprus shelf. Many analysts, both in Cyprus and Israel, believe that such agreements will not only benefit the economic development of the two states, but will also guarantee the security of Cyprus from new Turkish claims. Indeed, in Ankara, immediately after official Nicosia announced the development of a gas field, it was stated that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (and in fact Turkey itself) has the full right to pump gas from offshore depths, because the TRNC is another independent state located on the island. However, Israel has come to the aid of the Republic of Cyprus in its hot disputes in absentia over blue fuel, which has angered Erdogan, who is trying in every way to position himself as the main regional player. But, apparently, Tel Aviv’s opinion on Erdogan’s leadership is different, and Israel will continue to try to weaken Turkey’s influence in the region.
It should be noted that Israel has its own gas fields geologically connected with fields on the shelf of Cyprus. In Tel Aviv, while still in fairly warm relations with Ankara, they repeatedly stated that soon Israeli gas would not only fully provide the domestic market, but would also flow to southern Europe through Turkey. In Turkey, this was only welcome, but the conflict ruined these plans. However, Israel decided not to give up the idea of acting as an exporter of blue fuel to Europe. Only the transportation route had to be significantly adjusted. Israel has plans to launch gas through Cyprus. It is planned that in the near future the Israelis will build a large gas storage facility on the island, which will be a “transit” point for Israeli gas.
It turns out that the Freedom Flotilla continues to go sideways for Turkey. Obviously, in terms of the search for regional allies, Tel Aviv jumped around Ankara and wants to build on its success. And what about Turkey? Whom she managed to write to her allies. Frankly, so far not every Islamic country today craves to see Ankara the capital of the Muslim world. In addition, Turkey behaves far from always consistently. For example, today Ankara is trying to support the Syrian opposition, although the new “Libya” in Turkey at its side will not be the best option for further development. On the other direction is Iran, which today could be a good ally for Turkey as opposed to Israel. However, Ankara is confused with relations with the United States and NATO, and therefore the obvious advantages of pragmatic relations with Iran are probably visible to it, but who now will allow Erdogan to take such a step? Ankara's friendship with Tehran against Tel Aviv would be an adequate response to Netanyahu. But…
In such a situation, the Turkish prime minister remains to remind that it is sometimes very difficult for one person to hold onto two, and even more so on three or four chairs. After all, today Turkey: a) wants to be the center of the Islamic world; b) is trying to continue integration into Europe; c) seeks to remain a full member of NATO and a friend of the United States; d) by all means looking for ways to “annoy” Israel. And desires, as we know, do not always coincide with the possibilities, so Erdogan, sooner or later, will have to give up one of the chairs on which he is trying to sit.
Obviously, the search for allies by Israel and Turkey will continue, but now for any alliance has to pay a substantial price. Who allies will get "with discounts" is a big question ...
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