Cyprus and Israel: A New Geopolitical Equation

Source:Middle East forum Date:20Dec2023

A rare review of how Greek Cypriote  Adminstration treats the Gaza conflict and Eastern Med gas fields. A useful compandium  for those who seek to better understand the Cyrpus Conflict and its impact  on Turkish  foreign policy

The Republic of Cyprus finds itself at a crossroads. While the Cyprus question remains unresolved and prospects for a breakthrough look rather grim, the country needs to forge a foreign policy carefully for a new era. Its dynamic cooperation with Jerusalem is one of its most important projects and one that serves its strategic interests. Closer ties with the Israelis, however, are not a panacea for the resolution of the Cyprus conflict. Türkiye, traditionally employing a muscular strategy, does not hide its own ambitions for the Mediterranean, pushing for a two-state solution on the island and building drone bases on the northern part.

Ankara also approaches closer Cypriot-Israeli ties from the prism of its own interests and seeks to receive Palestinian support for its cause. The situation is made even more complicated in an environment of international uncertainty where Washington sees the island as a theatre for the ongoing antagonism with Russia in the eastern Mediterranean. It is in this theatre where already tense U.S.-Turkish relations are tested. Cyprus’s new president faces perhaps the most critical geopolitical equation since the Turkish invasion of 1974.