After a series of very friendly signals from Ankara to Jerusalem in recent weeks, Turkey shifted gears on Monday by protesting a recent agreement reached between Israel, Greece and Cyprus advancing plans to build a 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable connecting the three.
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Turkey formally protested the agreement, arguing that the route of the planned cable, expected to be funded by the EU, transgressed Turkish territorial waters, the Anadolu Agency reported.
In diplomatic protest notes presented to Greek, Israeli and EU diplomats in Ankara, Turkish officials also stated that the three countries needed to seek Turkey's approval before conducting feasibility studies, the agency reported.
The three countries reached an agreement last week to expedite permits and approvals to conduct feasibility studies for the undersea cable and to coordinate with their respective national electricity regulators on how best to proceed.
Previously, the three countries had teamed up for a planned $6 billion undersea pipeline to carry gas from new offshore deposits in the southeastern Mediterranean to continental Europe, by bypassing Turkey.
Israel, Greece and Cyprus also conducted a joint naval exercise last week, in the latest example of increased cooperation between the three which increasingly view Turkey as a rival in the Mediterranean Sea.
Greece and Cyprus are embroiled in a dispute with Turkey, which has sent gas prospecting vessels into waters claimed by Greece and drilling ships into an area where Cyprus claims exclusive rights. The tension brought NATO allies Greece and Turkey close to open conflict last year, but tensions have eased since then.
Last Wednesday, a close associate of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Admiral Cihat Yayci, told Turkish Jewish newspaper Şalom that "it is in the interests of both Turkey and Israel to re-normalize relations."
Yayci called on Israel to take up the proposal of a shared maritime border, first reported by Israel Hayom on March 5. A more detailed version of the plan was published in the Turkeyscope monthly journal published by the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Yayci gave the interview after Turkey suffered another diplomatic blow when Egypt and Greece agreed to compromise on proposed areas for gas and oil drilling in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
This occurred five days after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey could reach an agreement with Egypt on a maritime border.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that the dispute over one of Egypt's three drilling areas was "technical" and had been resolved. According to reports, teams from Egypt met and re-drew maritime borders for the problematic area, a deal which directly affects Turkey, since the Turks claim ownership of the area delineated by Greece and Egypt.
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