Israel will not let any kind of warming up of its relations with Turkey affect its relations with Cyprus and Greece, Israeli Ambassador in Nicosia, Oren Anolik, stressed in an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
“Israel and Cyprus are good friends and strategic partners. We don’t have any intention to change this no matter what will be our relations with other countries in the region. We feel that there are a lot of opportunities and potentials. And we would like to take all this and move it forward for the benefit of the people of Cyprus and Israel,” Anolik noted.
Moreover, he said that Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, has been leading a very positive policy when it comes to the relations with Israel. “He is being seen as a real friend of Israel and is appreciated for doing this. I have every reason to believe that no matter who is going to be elected in Cyprus (as the new President) this will continue,” the Ambassador of Israel added.
Asked about the rapproachement between Israel and Turkey and if this may affect relations between Cyprus and Israel, Anolik said that if there is an effect, it will only be a positive one. “We were very clear at all levels, starting with the President and the Prime Minister of Israel by sending very clear messages to the Cypriot leadership, saying this is not a zero-sum game,” he noted, adding that Cyprus and Israel have excellent relations in different fields that keep on developing.
He stressed that “we will not in any way pay with a Cypriot currency for what might happen with Turkey. We will not let any kind of warming up of relations with Turkey affect our relations with our very good friends in Cyprus and also in Greece as well. This was a very clear message and we stand by it.”
Anolik said that “I heard personally both the President and the Prime Minister (of Israel) speaking about this very clearly and I think that we have demonstrated this day by day. The relations between Israel and Turkey have a long history with ups and downs along the years. The improvement of the relations with Turkey can also be seen within the context of Israel improving its relations with other countries in the Muslim world the same way in which Cyprus is improving its relations with Arab and Muslim countries, because they think it is for the benefit of Cyprus and we believe it is,” he said.
“We believe that this actually creates a kind of a triangle in which we can all work together in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Middle East: Israel and Cyprus and Greece and Arab and Muslim countries. In this context if Turkey has better relations with us and maybe with some other countries in the region, I think this brings more stability to the region, I think it can work to the benefit of bringing down extremism and having a better relation for all of us. And Cyprus can actually benefit from this».
He also noted that it might be beneficial to Cyprus “to know that they have another friend who is capable to reach the ears of Ankara and be able to transmit messages if needed in this case and try to keep this stability and balance in the region.”
Asked if Israel is ready to play the role of a mediator between Cyprus and Turkey, Anolik said that he would not go as far as calling Israel a mediator. “But what we are saying is that we are here. If somebody wants to use this channel, he would find willingness from our side to listen and move a message forward. But we are not initiating this.”
Anolik, who has been in Cyprus as the Israeli Ambassador, for a year now, noted that the relations between Israel and Cyprus are not just for the elites, the politicians, and the people doing business.
“Everybody can be involved. What was the most interesting piece of information that I got this year in this regard is a public opinion survey that we did here in the beginning of 2022 because we wanted to get some real hard data for this. And what we learned from the public opinion survey was that when we asked people about how they view Israel we got an amazing result of 69% that are favorable towards Israel,” he noted.
He went on to say that “what was even more amazing was when we asked them ‘how do you view the relations between Cyprus and Israel’. Then we got 89% who view it favorably. That is an amazing number. Almost the entire population of Cyprus sees in a very favorable way relations between Cyprus and Israel,” he added.
As he noted, “this is a platform on which we can build to do so many things in so many fields: culture, sports, academia, political, defence, security, trade, investment.”
Referring to tourism, he said that Israel is among the first four countries as regards the number of tourists coming to Cyprus this year. “We are heading towards repeating the record that we had before COVID-19. Before COVID-19 we had 300,000 Israelis coming to Cyprus. This year is not over yet and we will probably be close to this number also this year.”
“So I think these are very good times for the relations between the two countries and I am very happy that I have the chance to be here and experience personally this tightening of the relations,” he noted.
Asked about Israel’s position as regards the Iran-West proposed nuclear deal, he noted that the Israeli Prime Minister was very clear on this, speaking about the way that Israel sees the current developments as not positive.
“What seems to be the agreement that is in the making is likely to create an even worse situation on the ground,” he said, adding that Iran has a very well-advanced nuclear program and is not actually rolling it back, and that with all the sanctions being lifted it means that so much money will be pouring into Iran, hundreds of billions of dollars, “and unfortunately this money will be used to undermine the situation in the region, not just against Israel”.
The Ambassador said that “we think it is important that our voice will be heard. We feel that it is important that our friends and the whole world know where we stand on this issue. It is important also to have an open eye on what is happening in Iran and to monitor the situation. We need to be in alert in case something is happening or developing. And be prepared for any kind of emergency situation that might occur.”
Asked about the cooperation between Cyprus and Israel in the energy field, he said that there is a huge potential in this sector.
“We believe that now that Europe is striving to find new energy resources, we can be helpful, modestly at the moment. The recent discoveries of more reservoirs in the Eastern Mediterranean are interesting in this regard and there are ongoing discussions all the time between Israel and Cyprus, between the Ministries of Energy on how we can move forward on these issues. The Ministers will probably meet again in the coming weeks and keep on discussing these issues. We have technical people also having discussions.”
Anolik also said that “we continue to see what can be done regarding the EastMed pipeline. We are waiting for the feasibility study. There are different elements that need to be studied, some related to the technical aspects, some with the financial aspects, some with the environmental aspects and also with the political aspects. But this is an issue that is still open. I think a very interesting project is also the Euro-Asia Interconnector. There is a desire to push on this issue as well.”
He noted that “the potential is there and what we want to see is moving from the potential into real actions. I am optimistic. I think that this can be done. But energy is a long-term kind of game. It takes time. But all in all it continues to be a major pillar in our relations.”
Asked about the 3+1 scheme (Cyprus, Greece, Israel+USA), he noted that there was recently an online discussion on the energy infrastructure of the 3+1 scheme “and we have a plan of future meetings on different issues as well.”
Moreover, he referred to the trilateral cooperation that Cyprus and Israel have with Greece, noting that “we would also very much like to see a meeting of the trilateral with some of the Arab countries as well. Cyprus and Greece are our closest friends in this region, in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he added.
Asked about the Abraham Accords, signed two years ago, and the role of Cyprus in promoting their implementation, Anolik noted that in the past there was like a border between Europe and the Middle East. “Today we actually created a region we can call the Eastern Mediterranean, which really has a real substance. And countries as Cyprus, Greece and Israel can work together on issues that have to do first of all on connectivity, transportation, energy and shipping,” he added.
He stressed that one needs to have a visionary look at this. “Then you can form and create new things that maybe nobody else thought about before. So we need this kind of vision, to say let’s bring the funds from the Gulf, the technology from Israel, the regulation and the stability of Cyprus and Europe and create a very good platform for very interesting projects,” the Israeli Ambassador added.
Source: Cyprus News Agency