*Full text can be read in OCIN Initiative;
(Arabic Version)
(Japanese Version)
January 2020
Two gas pipelines by Israel/Cyprus and Russia/Turkey
In the 1970s and during the independence campaign after World War II, Greeks and Turkishs in Cyprus confronted over annexations with Greece. In 1974, Turkey invaded into the dispute island. Cyprus was divided into the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Since then, the three states, Greece, Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus, have been in tension with each other. All of the three states, on the other hand, are members of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Therefore, they have maintained some sort of political equilibrium throughout the era of the East-West conflict and the Detente.
The discovery of gas fields by Israel has spurred the development campaign in coastal countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. They are Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Cyprus in addition to Israel and Egypt. Lebanon and Syria could not participate development campaign due to unstable politics and economy. Egypt has several gas fields offshore of the Nile Delta, but production is already in decline and its gas liquefaction (LNG) facilities are in excess.