DID YOU KNOW? DTIC has over 3.5 million final reports on DoD funded research, development, test, and evaluation activities available to our registered users. Click
HERE to register or log in.
Accession Number:
AD1013688
Title:
The East Mediterranean Triangle at Crossroads
Descriptive Note:
Technical Report
Corporate Author:
Army War College -Strategic Studies Institute Carlisle United States
Report Date:
2016-03-01
Pagination or Media Count:
63.0
Abstract:
The alliance system in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea has significantly evolved over the last years. The rift between Israel and Turkey since 2009 led to new strategic developments. In particular, Israeli-Greek ties have grown in earnest. Authorities in Israel and Greece have signed various trade as well as security cooperation agreements. Furthermore, the discovery of natural gas reserves in the southeastern Mediterranean has prompted cooperation between Israel, Cyprus, and Greece. This Israel-Greece-Cyprus initiative has logically triggered strong opposition from Turkey, which does not recognize the government in Nicosia and objects to the claims of the Greek Cypriot Administration over the gas reserves in the south of the island. Ankara responded by conducting air and sea military drills close to the area of the planned project, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened that Turkey would take appropriate measures if the three countries were to go on with the project. As a result, the East Mediterranean Triangle can now be characterized as a volatile regional system in which alliances are no longer stable blocs. This is reflected in the ambivalent games played by the three main actors. Each of them is trying to seek seemingly contradictory goals Israel wants to restore its ties with Turkey while hedging against Ankaras policies via a rapprochement with Greece Greece aims to strengthen its military and commercial relations with Israel, but without openly defying Turkey Turkey still benefits from Israeli military know-how but expresses strong condemnations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government, and moreover, it dismisses the Israeli-Greek rapprochement while it uses its Navy in the Mediterranean area as a means of coercive diplomacy against competing forces.
Distribution Statement:
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
