Turkey-Israel: Gaza is not an obstacle for gas

Pyotr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Israel has closely followed the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu to Gaza and accused him of hypocrisy. Having arrived in Gaza on behalf of the League of Arab States (LAS), accompanied by his wife and the son of the Turkish Prime Minister Bilal Erdogan, Davutoglu visited Gaza hospital and could not hold back tears at the sight of people injured by Israeli shelling. Doctors told Davutoglu that since the beginning of the Israeli operation 138 people had been killed, 59 of whom were civilians, including 34 children. Israeli observers have noted that, although the official purpose of the visit was stated to be "a resolution of the conflict over Gaza," neither Davutoglu nor other members of the delegation of the Arab League even attempted to make any moves in this direction. This confirms the initial assumption that the visit is for propaganda.

The observer recalled that Davutoglu has been extremely quick to tears in the course of his various visits. "Accusations by Turkey that Israel is a terrorist state and the operation in Gaza is an act of terrorism are outrageous. If Israel really wanted to stop the shelling of its territory at any cost, it would have used the Russian experience in Chechnya or the Turkish experience in dealing with the Kurds, and the problem of Gaza would have been solved in half an hour or an hour at the cost of hundreds or thousands of victims among its inhabitants. The point is that that we are making just blows on terrorist targets, trying to save the life of the people of Gaza, and it is not our fault that Hamas uses women and children as a human shield. Hamas is deliberately firing on civilians. Residents of Israel continue to suffer and bear the loss, but Davutoglu prefers not to notice this”, a senior official of Foreign Ministry of Israel said. Israel has noted with satisfaction that the United States and the EU have characterized recent statements by Turkish leaders on developments around Gaza as irrelevant and untrue. According to Israeli analysts, trying to score points in the eyes of the Arab League, Turkey is rapidly losing them in the eyes of the West.

Simultaneously circulating in the economic circles of Israel is the declaration of deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry of Turkey on economic issues, Mithat Rende, that Turkey is interested in buying gas from the newly-discovered fields in the Israeli Mediterranean. Apparently, talks on buying Israeli gas will start immediately after the Israeli operation "Pillar of Cloud" in Gaza - no matter what its results will be. Rende made his statement during the Summit on the Economy and Energy which was held last week in Istanbul. At this forum Israel was represented by the CEO of "Eco-Energy" Dr. Amit Mor, and former Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Michael Lopam. At the same time, Rende said that Turkey had decided to boycott all companies engaged in the exploration of gas fields close to the coast of Cyprus. Thus, a senior Turkish official made it clear that Turkey is not going to buy gas from Cyprus and at the same time is looking forward to the conclusion of a treaty on such purchases with Israel. In an interview with Rende, Amit Mor, in turn, complained that Turkey had taken "non-constructive position," although it was clear that in the long term Israel and Turkey would need each other.

The Foreign Ministry of Israel immediately assessed the value of the declaration by Mithat Rende. Firstly, the latter cannot be suspected of any sympathy for Israel, because he has participated in organizing many anti-Israel actions by Ankara undertaken after the incident with the "Mavi Marmara". Secondly, he would be unlikely to make such statements without being sanctioned to do so by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to experts of the Foreign Ministry of Israel, Turkey will start talks to buy Israeli gas as soon as the events around the Gaza Strip finish. Thus, Ankara will continue economic cooperation with Israel, despite the political crisis in relations between the two countries. Turkey's interest in Israeli gas is understandable. Turkey consumes 40 billion cubic meters of gas per year. In the coming years it is expected that its gas demand will increase by 50%. Today, Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan deliver natural gas supplies to Turkey, but their supplies are not enough, and as a result the Turks are forced to buy extremely expensive liquefied gas from Algeria. In addition, civil war in Syria threatens Russian gas supplies, and the relationship between Iran and Turkey is not so good. So the Israeli gas fields located "within reach" in fact represent a solution to the problem. Israel is apparently willing to negotiate. "Finally, in order to trade, it is not necessary to kiss!" a senior official of Israeli Foreign Ministry said.