Could 'Neo Ottoman Conqueror' Turkey go to war for Cypriot Gas?

Could 'Neo Ottoman Conqueror' Turkey go to war for Cypriot Gas? (HD).

The Greek academic with whom I had that interesting conversation last week in Istanbul was in a good position to know what is going on in both Nicosia and Athens. For many years his advice has been sought by political leaders on policies related to the two countries and consequently to Turkey.

It was interesting to hear from him that the Greek Cypriots are now fully confident that they have “got it right” by focusing their policy on their right of exploration of resources in their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), confident that their move, together with Greece’s toward Egypt, was well thought-out and over-confident that they could create a new geostrategic balance in the region. Naturally, both Nicosia and Athens consider the presence of the Barbaros inside the Cypriot EEZ enough of a “provocative” action to justify their stance.

My academic friend also assured me that the Greek Cypriot leader is “determined to go until the end,” in building up further his country’s relations with Israel and that this will be apparent during Nicos Anastasiades’ visit to Israel on Dec. 2, when he will have extensive talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (According to Greek sources, the original plan was that Netanyahu was going to meet Anastasiades in Nicosia, but he asked for the meeting to take place in Tel Aviv due to security reasons).

It looks like December might be a diplomatically hot month for Greece-Cyprus-Turkey relations.

The visit of Anastasiades to Israel will be followed almost immediately by the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to Athens on Dec. 5-6. If Davutoğlu’s team indicates that they want to de-escalate tension, will there perhaps be new ideas leading to cooperation rather than the isolation of each party behind their own lines?

Needless to say, the only answer that the Greek academic really wanted to hear from me was “Could Erdoğan go to war for Cyprus?” This, he told me, is what is on everybody’s mind on the Greek side. To that, I could not give him a definite answer. Hmmm....He wants the Gas as much as he wants Iraqi oil.Read the full story here.