ISTANBUL, Turkey —
Turkey is ready for energy cooperation with Israel after years of
enmity, reviving a project to pipe Israeli gas to Europe as Ankara seeks to
reduce its dependence on Russia. But the plan faces Israeli skepticism over
past diplomatic tensions and seems a pipe dream in the eyes of experts due to
its logistical complexity and cost.
اضافة اعلان
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced readiness to “cooperate (with Israel) in energy and
energy security projects” with the prospect of shipping Israeli gas to Europe
through Turkey as the conflict in Ukraine triggers supply fears. “Turkey has
the experience and capacity to implement such projects. The recent developments
in our region have shown once again the importance of energy security,” he said
in March.
Israeli President
Isaac Herzog made a landmark visit to
Ankara in March to build relations with
his Turkish counterpart when both leaders proclaimed a new era following more
than a decade of diplomatic rupture.
Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Israel on Wednesday.
Energy Minister Fatih Donmez is also expected to travel but it was not immediately clear if he will
accompany Cavusoglu. But according to some experts, there is little Israeli
interest in energy cooperation with Turkey.
‘Erdogan an untrustworthy party’
“Energy relations are forged by cooperative, trusting states — certainly
not how one would describe the current dynamics between the two countries,”
Gabi Mitchell, policy fellow at the Mitvim Institute in Israel, told AFP.
“There are those in Israel who argue that Erdogan is an untrustworthy party,”
he said.
The Turkish leader
is known for his angry outbursts at Israel, especially over its policy toward
Palestinians. In 2009, he stormed out of a Davos panel after a heated exchange
with the then-Israeli president, Shimon Peres.
NATO member Turkey
had been Israel’s key ally in the Muslim world until a 2010 crisis where 10
civilians died in an Israeli raid on a ship seeking to breach a blockade on the
Gaza Strip.
In 2016, the two
countries agreed to start examining the feasibility of an undersea pipeline to
pump Israeli gas to Turkish consumers and on to Europe. But no progress has
been made amid the tension between the two sides, with Erdogan seeing himself
as a champion of the Palestinian cause and a strong backer of
Hamas.
Yet Erdogan has
been muted in his criticism in recent months and only voiced sadness over the
Israeli violence at
Al-Aqsa mosque complex, in a phone call with Herzog in
April.
The pipeline
project runs through controversial waters in the eastern Mediterranean, where
Turkey and EU members
Cyprus and Greece are often at odds. Mitchell said: “This
isn’t something Israel is interested in pursuing as it would damage relations”
with Cyprus, Greece, and the EU.
“I’ve never
thought the project feasible,” the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Middle
East Program director
Aaron Stein told AFP. “The idea of the project comes back
every time there is a thaw, but the logistics needed to take it from a dream to
reality is complicated and expensive,” he said.
The pipeline from
Israeli fields to Turkey could cost $1.5 billion, according to some media
reports.
‘Difficult but reasonable’
Ankara is hugely dependent on Russia for its energy imports, with 45
percent of its gas demand last year met by Russian sources, and is keen to
diversify supplies, with a close eye on Israel’s developing resources.
Turkey imports
natural gas through pipelines from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It also buys
liquefied natural gas (LNG) from suppliers including Qatar, Nigeria, Algeria,
and the US.
“A gas pipeline
crossing the south of Turkey in theory makes sense,” said energy expert Necdet
Pamir of Cyprus International University.
Turkey consumed 48
billion cubic meters of gas in 2020. This reached 60 billion in 2021 and is
estimated to be 62-63 billion this year, he said. “We need alternative gas
supplies and new agreements are in Turkey’s interests as long as the
circumstances including the financing are ripe,” Pamir added.
Turkey sees the gas
project with Israel as more feasible than the EastMed pipeline despite the
challenges. “It is not a project that begins today and ends tomorrow,” a
Turkish official told AFP. “It’s difficult but it’s reasonable and feasible,
especially compared to the Greece-led EastMed,” the official, who wished to
remain anonymous, said.
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