Remarks by the US ambassador to Ankara and special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, about potential economic and energy cooperation between Turkey and Israel have sparked controversy in Turkey.
The American ambassador, speaking last Saturday at an international conference in Bahrain that brought together ministers and other officials from the Middle East, “predicted” that the two US allies, Turkey and Israel, would not only avoid war but would also pursue commercial cooperation.
Barrack said he would bet that if the Gaza ceasefire holds, Turkey and Israel will soon pursue economic cooperation, adding that in his view, this partnership would stretch from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.
These remarks did not go unnoticed in Ankara, with the Hurriyet newspaper publishing an analysis of them.
According to a columnist for the newspaper, Barrack’s statements suggest the US wants to push a new strategy in the Middle East, adding that the reference to “cooperation from the Caspian to the Mediterranean” concerns the US plan for an energy corridor linking Turkey and Israel, among others.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s coalition partner and leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli, sharply criticised the American ambassador yesterday, calling his statements a profound delusion.
“Whilst the perpetrators of the Gaza genocide have not yet been held accountable and the two-state model has not yet been implemented, on what basis, by what right and with what authority does this ambassador claim we will cooperate with Israel?” he said, calling on Barrack to stop interfering in Turkey’s foreign policy.
The plan for energy connections between Turkey and Israel through a natural gas pipeline from the Leviathan field is not new, dating back at least a decade.
In 2017, the two countries were reportedly close to an agreement, with then-Israeli energy minister Yuval Steinitz telling Hurriyet that Israel was highly likely to export its natural gas to Turkey and on to Europe through the Turkish natural gas transmission system, adding this could happen by early 2019 and even including the Republic of Cyprus in the planning.
Specifically, the then-Israeli energy minister said the future pipeline between Turkey and Israel could also carry natural gas from the Republic of Cyprus, stating that the Cyprus problem could be solved and the pipeline could pass through Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone.
