A new era of Greco-Cypriot relations with Israel
Does the Athens-Nicosia-Tel Aviv triangle exist? The question arises because of the deterioration in relations between Turkey and Israel and the push given by Israel to strengthen its relations with Greece and Cyprus, as witnessed by the recent visits of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Athens in August and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Nicosia in September.
It is well known that Turkish-Israeli relations are in deep crisis, as a result of the neo-Ottoman theory implemented by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davoutoglu who seeks to align Turkey with the Arab world. Turkey strongly condemned the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, received the Hamas leader in Ankara, conducted common military exercises with Syria, arch-enemy of Israel, while refusing to do the same with Israel in accordance with their Treaty of Military Co-operation of 1996, supported Iran, criticised for its nuclear ambitions, and lastly tried to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza. The purpose of all these actions is to project Turkey as the big Islamic power, capable of creating problems for Israel, more effectively than Iran. In all this, Turkey asserts that she is not counting the political cost or alliances.
In attempting to deal with this situation, it was only natural Israel should turn towards Greece and Cyprus with which it entertains excellent relations.
The two countries took advantage of this opportunity. Netanyahu’s visit to Athens, a month after Papandreou’s visit to Jerusalem, is the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to Greece and expresses the mutual will to bolster ties between the two countries. The visit afforded the opportunity to exchange views on a variety of issues of bilateral co-operation. The discussion, inter alia, covered military co-operation, security, armaments, economy, tourism, energy, know-how, joint ventures, etc. One concrete result was the decision to establish a Joint Committee to identify sectors presenting real prospects of rapid development and intensive co-operation.
Netanyahu’s visit upgraded Greece’s role in the Middle East, where peace is of vital importance. In this respect, Greece’s traditional friendship with the Arab world can be of help, as it enjoys the trust of both parties. Papandreou put particular emphasis on this point by saying that Greece wants to be useful to Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement, as well as that of the Arab world with Europe.
In view of the above, a reasonable question was put by journalists to the two prime ministers: whether the relations of strategic importance between Greece and Israel are competing with those with Turkey. The answer of both was “no”, but the Greek prime minister stressed that Turkey has to show respect to the peoples and the countries of the region.
Lieberman visited Cyprus at the invitation of his Cypriot counterpart when Netanyahu was in Washington for the direct talks with the Palestinian leader. Lieberman and Kyprianou have met several times this year in an effort to strengthen relations between their countries. Their discussions covered a variety of issues among which the most prominent was the joint Greco-Cypriot proposal for transporting humanitarian aid to Gaza. The reasoning behind this is Cyprus’ proximity to the region and its excellent relations with the parties concerned. Lieberman described the proposal as very positive, adding that it is on the discussion table. In this respect the possibility is being explored to put the project under the EU umbrella, with a view to giving more substance to its role in the region.
Israel’s relations with the EU was another issue discussed. For Israel, Cyprus represents the closest opening to the EU, and co-operation in all these areas helps Israel’s European relations. In this respect, it should be mentioned that now, as compared to the past, Israel is willing to enter into dialogue with Cyprus over the delimitation of the boundaries of the Exclusive Economic Zone between the two countries. Moreover, after the deterioration of its relations with Turkey, Israel believes that Cyprus - together with Greece, Bulgaria and Romania - could become the bridge to Brussels. This fits Cyprus’ own ambition to become the bridge between the EU and the Middle East. Mention should be made that in the EU, Israel has a strong ally, France. President Sarkozy, speaking in the Knesset in June 2008, confirmed that Israel can count on Europe for help in finding a final solution to the problem of the Middle East and that France is also committed to this goal. However, Israel is not limiting its interest solely to the EU versus Davoutoglu debate. Lieberman has his own agenda, according to which Israel should become a dominating power in the Mediterranean, a member of the EU and NATO with influence in Africa and a special relation with all those Balkan countries despising Turkey’s neo-Ottoman model.
The need to deal with the Turkey’s neo-Ottoman ambitions of Turkey in the Middle East, which consequently led to the deterioration of the relations between Turkey and Israel, has prompted Israel to seek new ways of securing stability in the region. In order to achieve this, Israel has decided to strengthen its relations with Cyprus and Greece, taking also into account the curtailed powers of the Turkish army - the champion of the alliance with Israel – following President Erdogan’s in September’s referendum.
Dr Andrestinos N, Papadopoulos is a former ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/opinions/new ... l/20101107
