Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-Israel rhetoric is interfering with Turkish-Israeli cooperation that could turn Turkey into a regional energy base to ship Israeli natural gas to Europe.
“Their inability to complete a pipeline deal would hurt Turkish ambitions to become a regional transit center and mean continued dependence on Russia and Iran for gas,” according to Bloomberg News.
Erdogan last week accused Israel of being involved with the military coup that ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi from power in Egypt.
“Rising tensions between the former allies risk the ability of Israel’s Delek Group Ltd. and Turkey’s Zorlu Holding AS to negotiate a pipeline from Israel to Turkey that could feed markets in Europe. While trade has been resilient to the souring of diplomatic ties, building the $2 billion pipeline requires inter-government cooperation for a long-term commercial agreement,” Bloomberg explained.