CYPRUS AND TURKEY A NEVER-ENDING STORY

CYPRUS DENIES TURKISH ACCUSATIONS ABOUT MILITARY TIES WITH ISRAEL

CYPRUS denied accusations leveled by the TURKISH ambassador to IRAN about Nicosia's military cooperation with ISRAEL.

CYPRUS stressed that there is no military cooperation between the Republic of CYPRUS and ISRAEL. Furthermore the CYPRUS government noted that in recent years no military exercises were held by the armed forces of the Republic of CYPRUS as a gesture of good will and in order to facilitate the ongoing negotiations for the re-unification of the island. 

TURKEY CLAIMS CYPRUS SUPPORTS PJAK AND PKK 

The CYPRUS government however stated that TURKISH diplomats, who represent a state that has been violating international law and is responsible for the ongoing occupation of 36% of the territory of the Republic of CYPRUS, should avoid issuing public statements about crisis and confiscation of resources in the Mediterranean region.

TURKEY claims that ISRAEL is increasing its ties with southern CYPRUS, especially in military fields, adding that CYPRUS supports PJAK (Party for a Free Life in KURDISTAN) and
the KURDISTAN Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group, which operate against IRAN and TURKEY, the two main Muslim regional powerhouses. CYPRUS on the other hand did not deny the charge of supporting PJAK and PKK.

According to TURKEY, relations between ISRAEL, Southern CYPRUS and GREECE are growing in the military sector, in order to “confiscate” the existing natural resources in the Mediterranean Sea through their strong relations.

TURKEY FURTHER CLAIMS THAT SOUTHERN CYPRUS’S SUPPORT FOR PJAK AND PKK AND HAS CREATED A CRISIS IN REGION IN A BID TO LOOT SHARED OIL RESOURCES.

PJAK, a militant KURDISH nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of Northern IRAQ, has been carrying out numerous attacks in Western IRAN, Southern TURKEY and the Northeastern parts of SYRIA where KURDISH populations live.

IN TURKEYS VIEW, ISRAEL SUPPORTS CYPRUS WITH WHICH IT SHARES MANY INTERESTS IN A BID TO PRESSURIZE THE REGIONAL COUNTRIES IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

It becomes increasingly evident that TURKEY is trying desperately to become the regional key player, and thus finds it disturbing that ISRAEL is becoming a counterbalance by joining forces with GREECE and CYPRUS, and although CYPRUS officially denies military ties with ISRAEL, intelligence sources confirm the cooperation, especially since ISRAEL is advancing with its “Depth Corps”, modeled after the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command which indicates that ISRAEL envisions long-range, largely clandestine and multi-service operations that require foreign “ops bases”, for which CYPRUS is the perfect strategic vantage point. (See: http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/idf-israeli-defense-forces.html)

In addition of becoming the strategic key player in the region, TURKEY needs also to become the regional energy through which gas and oil is distributed to EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA and RUSSIA. Recent gas findings in the south eastern Mediterranean Sea have seriously jeopardized this vision of TURKEY; for CYPRUS and ISRAEL, in most likelihood, will hold the better cards of become the key Mediterranean gas and oil distribution hub in the not too distant future.

See also:  http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html
 http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html