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A lot has been said in recent days about the allegedly biased attitude of senior UN officials, with mediators blamed time and again for tolerating Turkey’s bullying.
But with so much going for Cyprus, what with the economy “recovering” after the 2013 meltdown and certain sturdy sectors, such as shipping, it is strange that the government has failed in attracting allies that would rush to its aid.
Unfortunately, Cyprus is at a disadvantage when it comes to geopolitical strategy, as it basically has nothing of value to any of our neighbours, at least not yet.
Israel is fast developing its oil and gas sectors, rushing to tap the futures markets as soon as it can and find buyers for its fuel commodity, while Egypt is also in a hurry, seeing the competition from other natgas producers such as Qatar, to ensure the output fro its offshore fields will satisfy local demand, and keep some for exports in order to earn foreign currency revenues. Lebanon, of course, is moving at a far slower pace than Cyprus did, simply because of the stumbling blocks related to the country’s fragile government and porous constitution.
So, how can Cyprus become a leading player or at least join the leaders in this game?
Unless efforts are not underway to push the oil and gas majors to press ahead with their exploration plans, with the full support of their relevant governments (France, Italy, Qatar and the U.S.), Turkey will continue to harass Cyprus, with its own exploration tactics, simply to throw a spanner in the works and upset the energy giants.
On the other hand, Turkey should also be careful not to open too many fronts, as Greece is also speeding up its own oil and gas exploration plans, while the ambitious EuroAsia Interconnector electricity cable connecting Israel to Greece, has taken even greater importance, with the operators and partner governments in Greece and Cyprus also talking about adding high-speed telecom fibre optics to the venture.
Surely, countries such as Israel, that are still suffering from a split personality syndrome of an on-again, off-again relationship with Turkey, ought to look out for its own interest for a change and take the lead as a force of stability in the eastern Mediterranean, ensuring that its oil and gas, electricity and soon telecom links to the rest of the world are not jeopardised by the whims of those in charge in Turkey.
