Turkish and Israeli energy ministers to meet in İstanbul

Despite the crisis ignited by the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid and afterwards mutual accusations, relations have continued between the two countries, witnessing an increasing trade volume. Now the two ministers are to further develop the relations
Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:28

Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart, Berat Albayrak, in İstanbul on Thursday. 

Israel and Turkey signed a deal in June to restore ties which hit an all-time low after the 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid ship that killed 10 Turks. 

Israel has paid Turkey $20 million in compensation for the deadly storming -- an amount which Turkish authorities said has been transferred to the account of the Justice Ministry. 

In addition to the compensation, Israel has also made an apology and agreed to ease the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. 

BACKGROUND OF DIPLOMATIC CRISIS

In 2009, the then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stormed off at the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos after a heated debate on Gaza with the Israeli President Shimon Peres. Having accused the moderator, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, of not allowing him to speak as much as his Israeli counterpart did, Erdoğan stated that Peres had spoken so loudly to conceal his guilt –of killing innocent people- and walked off the stage as a sign of protest.

The Mavi Marmara-Gaza flotilla raid, a military operation by Israel on 31 May 2010, was yet another hit escalating the diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. The raid resulted in the deaths of 10 Turkish participants, leading the both countries to withdraw mutually their ambassadors.   

EVER -GROWING ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Nevertheless, “suspending” military and commercial ties with Israel and “imposing” trade sanctions were never put into practice after the Mavi Marmara incident. Populist and inflammatory remarks by Erdoğan and abovementioned diplomatic crises did not lead to a decline, let alone a deadlock, in Israeli-Turkish economic relations.

Turkey enjoyed trade flows with Israel, receiving $3 billion in imported goods while exporting the same financial amount in Turkish goods to Israel in 2014. Israeli-Turkish trade has grown by 19 percent since 2009, while Turkey’s overall foreign trade for the same period grew by 11 percent.

Moreover, according to the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), the number of Israelis travelling to Turkey increased by 125 percent, from 83,740 to 188,608 between 2012 and 2014, and to 224,568 in 2015. Still far from the half a million Israeli tourists of 2008, recent figures demonstrate that a steady growth has been witnessed in the number of Israelis travelling to Turkey.  

NEW PROSPECTS

The meeting of the two energy ministers planned to be held on Thursday in the last day of the 23rd Energy Congress in Istanbul will be the first meeting at ministerial level between Turkey and Israel after six years. The two ministers are expected to "discuss the export of gas from Israel to Turkey, and cooperation on energy matters between the two countries."

Turkey’s low level of energy security is another factor that pushes it to buy gas from Israel. Earlier this year, the ‘Institute for 21st Century Energy’ graded the energy security of the 25 OECD countries, placing Turkey 23rd in the list. Turkey imports 55% of the gas it consumes from Russia, 16% from Iran, 13% from Azerbaijan.

Bilateral relations of Turkey and Israel are of importance at the regional level as well. Israel’s offshore Tamar and Leviathan gas fields in Eastern Mediterranean Sea have a significant discovery in order to meet Europe’s rising gas and energy need. In the event of transmission of Israeli gas through Turkey, Cyprus is one of the alternatives through which the pipeline route may be installed. And this is yet another challenging factor for Turkey, since it will need to reevaluate its relations with Cyprus.

Russian President Putin and Turkish President Erdoğan have just signed a key energy deal during the World Energy Congress in Istanbul. The meeting of Steinitz and Albayrak, son-in-law of Erdoğan, is, therefore, an issue of concern. 

Reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, two leading allies of the United States, has long been an American interest as Washington faces a broader instability in the region, particularly in Syria.

The energy ministers’ meeting in Istanbul is expected to further enhance the ongoing commercial relations of Turkey and Israel, the two key significant actors that have such common interests in the regions as “preventing Syria from turning into an Iranian military base”.