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Turkey-Greece engage in mock dogfights over Cyprus as Israeli PM arrives GREEK AND Turkish jets tangled in mock dogfights in Cypriot airspace yesterday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving on the island, reports said. According to Sigma, around 11am three Greek Mirage-2000 fighters began shadowing two Turkish F-16 jets after the latter flew between Rhodes and Crete on their way from the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish ships were conducting wargames with live ammunition. The Turkish military exercise, the Foreign Minister said earlier, took place within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, in waters south of the island and close...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described offshore gas drilling by estranged ally Israel and Cyprus as "madness" on Wednesday, raising the stakes in a confrontation over potentially huge deposits in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The quarrel over gas has escalated in recent weeks, just as relations between Israel and Turkey abruptly broke down over Israel's refusal to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last year in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists died. (snip) "The Greek Cypriot administration and Israel are engaging in oil exploration madness in the Mediterranean," Turkish state news agency Anatolian quoted Erdogan as telling...

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has warned Turkey to stop its warships shelling the strip of water dividing the Cypriot and Israeli gas exploration zones in the eastern Mediterranean. Debkafile's military sources report Wednesday that Turkish warships began turning their guns on the strip dividing Israel's Leviathan gas field from Block 12 of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone-EEZ, where a large gas field was recently discovered. Neither Israel nor Cyprus reported the Turkish attacks, which are staged in international waters, but both reinforced their naval units around the gas fields. It was the Cypriot president who broke the silence Friday with a...

Increasingly assertive Turkey is setting the scene for clashes in the eastern Mediterranean. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, DEBKAfile's military sources report. They come close enough to establish wireless communication and caution the Israeli vessels they are in contravention of international law and ordering them to change course. The Israeli crews mostly ignore these "orders", treating them as Ankara's latest bid to assert Turkish naval mastery of the Eastern Mediterranean. But the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major incident. Over the weekend, Israeli Air Force planes...

The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their “bullying” practices against civilian vessels, a Turkish official said Friday. The official said this would be the outcome of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement earlier in the day that “Turkey would take every precaution it deems necessary for the safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean.” Davutoğlu’s statement about providing maritime safety in the eastern Mediterranean grabbed the most attention among the various sanctions against Israel the foreign minister announced Friday. He did not further elaborate, however, on what he meant by...

Turkey warned Saturday it would shun international companies involved in oil and gas drilling off the shores of the divided island of Cyprus. "As it was repeated several times... the companies which will cooperate with the Greek Cypriot Administration will be excluded from new energy projects in Turkey in the future," the foreign ministry said in a written statement. Turkey's warning came after Cyprus on Tuesday approved licenses for drilling to exploit offshore oil and gas deposits and said it would negotiate the terms of a partnership with Italy's ENI, South Korea's Kogas, France's Total and Russia's Novatek for energy...

Only by combining their forces will Israel and Cyprus be able to make a significant dent in the global natural gas economy, the Cypriot energy minister stressed on Tuesday. “We feel that through a close collaboration with Israel we will be able to be a major player in the world energy market, something that for each country individually might be too hard to achieve,” said Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis. Lakkotrypis was addressing a group of Israeli and Cypriot business leaders and government officials at a seminar entitled “Cyprus: An International and Professional Center,” held in Tel...

Moscow has reiterated its vivid interest for Cyprus’ natural gas by expressing once again its interest for the exploitation of the reserves in the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The interest was expressed during a meeting in Moscow between the Cyprus House President Yiannakis Omirou and Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Yury Sentyurin. The meeting lasted two hours and was also attended by the members of the parliamentary party delegation which accompany Omirou, as well as by representatives of Russian natural gas companies, NOVATEK and Gazprom Bank. Omirou arrived in Russia this morning, for a two-day official visit, heading a...

Word is that both Israel and Turkey are seriously entertaining the notion of constructing an undersea pipeline to deliver Israeli natural gas to Turkey and, perhaps, hence to Europe. The Turks reportedly have expressed willingness to foot part of the estimated $2 billion bill. Such pipelines exist elsewhere in the world, most notably from Russia and from Norway. It is becoming evident that a veiled agenda underpinned the recent Turkish willingness to consider a rapprochement with Israel. Turkey, it appears, hankers after Israeli gas. The perceived Turkish softening was fueled by Israel’s offshore gas discoveries, a fact which nevertheless did...

Cyprus' deputy government spokesman says the Cabinet has ratified a preliminary agreement with U.S. firm Noble Energy and its Israeli partners Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration on their participation in the development of a planned natural gas processing facility. Victoras Papadopoulos didn't disclose Wednesday details of the deal. Cyprus is looking to have the estimated 10 billion euro ($13.41 billion) facility up by 2020 to process offshore gas reserves for domestic use and export. The bailed-out country hopes the project will boost its struggling economy. Noble, Delek and its subsidiary Avner are partners in a gas field off Cyprus'...

SINIRUSTU/SYGKRASI, Cyprus -- Turkey began exploratory drilling for oil and gas Thursday in the Turkish-occupied north of ethnically divided Cyprus, heightening a dispute over who is entitled to the Mediterranean island’s potential fuel riches. The move counters an offshore gas search by rival Greek Cypriots in the island’s internationally recognized southern half that has touched off vociferous protests from Ankara and Turkish Cypriots. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz joined Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to inaugurate the start of drilling by Turkish Petroleum company TPAO at the Turkyurdu-1 borehole in this northwest village. The Cypriot government says any fuel search...

- The flow of natural gas from Israel’s Tamar reservoir in the Mediterranean to the Ashdod reception facility was inaugurated on March 30, 2013, ushering in a new era in Israel’s energy sector. Israel will not only become independent in being able to supply its own energy needs, but it is likely to become an energy exporter as its maritime gas fields are further developed. - On January 17, 2009, Israel’s economy and even its strategic stature changed when a team led by the Texan firm Noble Energy discovered gas in the Tamar field in the eastern Mediterranean, which is...

T HE “Admiral Kuznetsov” class aircraft carrier is currently off the coast of Malta and heading for eastern Mediterranean from their base in the Barents Sea. Informed sources have said that the Russian navy and Israeli military will hold joint exercises next week close to Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone. The exercises are slated to begin on the 28th November and last a week. Commentators say that Russia is determined to send the message that they have invested interests in the region and will secure them. It is understood that the aircraft carrier is carrying 24-fixed wing planes and a number...

Turkey would consider annexing northern Cyprus, which is technically EU territory, if talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots fail to reach a deal on reunification of the island, Turkey's European Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış told a Turkish Cypriot newspaper. Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Derviş Eroğlu have made little progress in negotiations to reunite the island, divided in 1974, since the United Nations persuaded them to renew efforts late last year. … Turkey has stationed troops in the north since invading in 1974, after a coup in Cyprus orchestrated by a military junta in Athens....

Turkey and Israel are at it again, but this time it's over reports that Turkey has added Israel to its so-called "Red Book," the top-secret security document that lists the country's threats and enemies. Israeli tourism minister Stas Misezhnikov struck back on Sunday by calling on Israelis to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination out of "national honor." According to Turkish media, the Red Book, which is amended every five years, now identifies Israel as a "strategic threat" to Turkey. The document, which is drawn up by Turkey's National Security Council, accuses Israel of being a destabilizing force and says...

While Americans have focused their attention on a number of domestic issues, things have been going downhill fast between Turkey and Israel.  The “Arab Spring” looks to be followed by an Islamist winter, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan wants to be Old Man Winter.  The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has even gone so far as to warn Erdogan not to muscle in on their action.It didn’t take long for Turkey to go bad after it was pulled from the fridge of secular rule, and left on the countertop of Erdogan’s Islamist party.  Erdogan views the recent United Nations report...

September 28, 2011 | Filed under: Air Force,Featured News Three engagements between Greek and Turkish F-16 fighter jets occurred over the Aegean Sea on Wednesday, for the first time in the last months. Today, Turkish pilots did not change their course after being intercepted and identified by Greek pilots, leading to engagements. One of them took place west of Lesbos while two more took place between Lesbos and Chios. A total of 12 Turkish military aircraft entered the Athens FIR without having previously submitted flight plans. Eight of them were armed. Besides the three engagements, three violations of Greek airspace...

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told his citizens on Sunday that he has chosen the least catastrophic option and confirmed that depositors will get bonds linked to natural gas earnings for the haircut their bank accounts have suffered. He also said he is trying to change the terms imposed on Nicosia for the bailout of the 10 billion euros. In a televised address Anastasiades admitted that Cyprus is undergoing “the most tragic moments since 1974,” in reference to the Turkish invasion that has led to the occupation of the northern third of the island. “The first option would have led to...

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously lamented that Moses led the children of Israel for forty years of wandering in the desert until he found the only place in the Middle East where there wasn’t any oil. But could Moses have been smarter than believed? Apparently the Canadians and the Russians think so, as both countries are moving to step up energy relations with a tiny nation whose total energy reserves some experts now think could rival or even surpass the fabled oil wealth of Saudi Arabia. Actual production is still minuscule, but evidence is accumulating that the Promised Land,...

Cyprus has gotten a great deal of attention recently because it has run into very severe problems with its banks. As a result, it has come looking for a bail-out from the European Union. How did this come about? It turns out that Cyprus is something of a banking haven for Russian plutocrats who were looking for a “safe” place to stash cash. As we all know, banks accept deposits but they don’t simply keep those deposits in the vault. They lend the money out to make a profit. The problem the Cypriot banks faced is that they received so...