{"id":1860,"date":"2017-04-03T11:38:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T11:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2017-04-03T11:38:13","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T11:38:13","slug":"uae-moves-closer-to-israel-greece-and-cyprus-bolstering-egypts-regional-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/2017\/04\/03\/uae-moves-closer-to-israel-greece-and-cyprus-bolstering-egypts-regional-role\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE MOVES CLOSER TO ISRAEL, GREECE AND CYPRUS BOLSTERING EGYPT\u2019S REGIONAL ROLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sourced : Hurriyet<\/p>\n

By Micha\u2019el Tanchum (Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Center at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Combat pilots from United Arab Emirates (UAE) are making history by flying alongside their Israeli counterparts in a joint air force exercise hosted by Greece. While the UAE and Israel<\/a> have no formal diplomatic ties, the event is a stunning confirmation the often rumored developing relations between the two states.<\/p>\n

The UAE\u2019s participation in joint exercises with Greece<\/a> and Israel<\/a> is just one sign of Abu Dhabi\u2019s expanding involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean. Because of its strong strategic partnership with Egypt, the UAE\u2019s new presence in the Eastern Mediterranean serves to bolster Cairo\u2019s regional role, impacting Turkey\u2019s own regional energy diplomacy and its options concerning the Cyprus issue.<\/p>\n

On March 27, the Hellenic Air force began hosting Iniohos 2017, an 11-day, multi-national joint air force exercise. \u00a0While including the United States and Italy, the UAE and Israel\u2019s participation in the complex air operations is noteworthy. Last week, Israel<\/a> and Greece<\/a> formally renewed their military relations, expanding upon their 2015 milestone of signing a status of forces agreement (SOFA). Israel<\/a> does not maintain a SOFA with any other nation aside from the United States. Israel\u2019s participation in Iniohos 2017 reflects the new effort by Greece<\/a> and Israel<\/a> to promote deeper air force cooperation.<\/p>\n

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The UAE\u2019s participation in Greece\u2019s multi-national joint air force exercise with Israel<\/a> is part of a wider UAE effort to deepen its strategic ties with key Eastern Mediterranean states. Concurrent with Iniohos 17, the UAE is hosting a major joint military exercise with Egypt. The joint exercise named Zayed 2 includes ground, naval, and air forces from the two nations, as well as marine units drilling beach landing operations.<\/p>\n

Earlier this March, Egypt and Israel<\/a> each conducted joint exercises with Republic of Cyprus. For its part, the UAE has raised the level of its diplomatic relations with the Greek<\/a> Cypriot government and has assumed a significant role in the Cypriot economy. Only eight months ago, the UAE opened an embassy in the Republic of Cyprus (ROC). The diplomatic breakthrough followed Nicosia\u2019s awarding two concession agreements to the UAE\u2019s marine terminals company, DP World, for Cyprus\u2019 Limassol port.<\/p>\n

The UAE is also seeking a role in the development of Cyprus\u2019 offshore natural gas industry. The ROC has already agreed to transport gas to Egypt from its Aphrodite natural gas field in Block 12 of Cyprus\u2019 exclusive economic zone. Cyprus\u2019 Block 11 is situated just 6 km from Egypt\u2019s massive Zohr natural gas field discovered in 2015 by the Italian energy giant Eni. Block 11\u2019s geological similarities with Zohr indicate the possibility of significant natural gas deposits. On March 7, 2017, the French<\/a> energy major Total sold 50 percent of its stake in Block 11 to Eni increasing the likelihood that drilling will commence in June despite warnings from the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus and Turkey to the ROC to refrain from taking further unilateral action with regard to the island\u2019s hydrocarbon resources.<\/p>\n

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For Cairo, Cypriot gas supplies are critical to turning Egypt into the Eastern Mediterranean region\u2019s clearinghouse for the export of natural gas. Supplies from Cyprus combined with supplies from Israel<\/a> and\/or new finds off Egypt\u2019s coast could supply Egypt\u2019s now dormant liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, transforming Egypt into a major transport node for the export of natural gas to Europe.<\/p>\n

Parallel to Turkey\u2019s relations with Israel, Turkey had frosty relations with the UAE until 2016, when reconciliation was formalized during Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu\u2019s visit to Abu Dhabi and the subsequent return of the UAE\u2019s ambassador to Ankara. It would behoove all the nations of the Eastern Mediterranean to devise a comprehensive region-wide arrangement for natural gas exports that would include equitable terms for Turkish Cypriots and an export role for Turkey via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline. As it succeeded in doing with Israel, Ankara<\/a> might encourage the UAE to play a constructive role toward this end through deeper engagement with Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sourced : Hurriyet By Micha\u2019el Tanchum (Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Center at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey).   Combat pilots from United Arab Emirates (UAE) are making history by flying alongside their Israeli counterparts in a joint air force exercise hosted by Greece. While the UAE and Israel have no formal diplomatic ties, the… Continue reading UAE MOVES CLOSER TO ISRAEL, GREECE AND CYPRUS BOLSTERING EGYPT\u2019S REGIONAL ROLE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1418,120,892,465,90,203],"class_list":["post-1860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-and-strategy","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-cyprus","tag-eastern-mediterranean","tag-egypt","tag-turkey","tag-uae","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/dcss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}