Turkey has issued a diplomatic note to Greece and Israel, claiming that the two countries “must seek permission before working on a proposed submarine cable in the eastern Mediterranean waters”, according to reports in Ankara on Monday night.
Turkey’s government media even tried to send maps to Israel, claiming that it could sign a maritime agreement with Jerusalem that would remove the demands of Cyprus from the map.
Instead, Israel and Cyprus have friendly ties and a maritime border on which they agree. Israel gets new Sa’ar 6 ships to defend its exclusive economic zone at sea and its gas platforms.
In addition, last summer, Israel signed an agreement with Greece and Cyprus for an East Med pipeline and is part of a gas forum with them and other states, including Egypt.
Turkey’s goal is to sever Israel’s relations. It has also been trying over the past month to lure Egypt with demands for reconciliation.
cnxps.cmd.push (function () {cnxps ({playerId: ’36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b’}). deliver (‘4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6’);});
if (window.location.pathname.indexOf (“656089”)! = -1) {console.log (“hedva connatix”); document.getElementsByClassName (“divConnatix”)[0].style.display = “none”;}
Egypt has said Turkey needs to implement domestic reforms to pave the way for normalization. Turkey hosts Hamas and other terrorist organizations that threaten Egypt and Israel.
“In a diplomatic note sent to the two countries’ embassies and the EU delegation on Monday, Ankara said the three, according to diplomatic sources, should seek permission before working on Turkey’s continental shelf,” Turkish media reported.
Turkey is angry that Cyprus, Israel and Greece ‘last week signed an initial agreement on the construction of the world’s longest submarine power cable connecting their electricity grid.’
Ankara’s latest allegation is that projected plans of the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) EuroAsia interconnector show that it is passing through Turkey’s continental shelf, Turkish media reported.
Turkey apparently wants to use this threat that hangs over demands over the cable to blackmail Israel. To show how he is going to use it, the government in Ankara has given its instructions to state and government media.
THE REGIME has arrested all critical journalists, sent them to prison or forced them into exile, so that the media reflects the government’s position. Daily Sabah, TRT and Anadolu rushed to print government claims over the continental shelf and the ‘letter’ sent by Turkey.
Turkey’s new note shows its true face, compared to the demands for reconciliation last year. It also toppled Kosovo because it started relations with Israel and tried to sabotage the new Abraham agreements with the UAE and Bahrain.
Ankara is also angry that Sudan and Israel are now making peace. These are setbacks for the fighting country, which has supported Hamas and tried to isolate Israel over the past decade.
Until about 15 years ago, Turkey and Israel had good relations. Since then, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come to power and become increasingly authoritarian, while turning his country into a leading opponent of the Jewish state. It even compares Israel to Nazi Germany in comments at the UN in 2019.
Turkey is now isolated in the region. His only friends are Qatar, Hamas and the weak Libyan government, as well as some extremists in northern Syria who are more known for ethnic cleansing and working as mercenaries for Ankara than achieving anything else.
The US may be working with Turkey to host a Taliban peace conference, although Ankara apparently prefers Russia and Iran to work rather than the West and the US. It even seems that NATO is concerned about Turkey’s suppression of democracy and its drive away to Russia and China.
By presenting Greece and Israel with a challenge, Turkey can pave the way for increasing tensions with Cyprus, Egypt and France. These countries, together with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, seem to have increasing interests.
In addition, the United States and India, as well as other four countries, want to work more closely with France, and France and India both want to work with the UAE.
This means that an underwater cable or gas pipeline can be symbolic of larger, changing dynamics. Turkey, for example, is unhappy that Saudi Arabia is also working with Greece.