Turkey has plans for Syria now that the Bashar al-Assad regime has been toppled and a wary Greece and Cyprus are looking to Israel for support.
Last Tuesday, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu mentioned, during a meeting, the possibility of a memorandum with the new Syrian government delimiting the two countries’ maritime zones. This was immediately picked up in Athens, because of the effects of such an agreement on Cyprus’ maritime rights. Less attention was paid to Uraloglu’s announcement that Turkey would revive the Syrian section of the Hejaz railway that linked Damascus to Medina early in the 20th century. That railway was shut down after World War I before an extension to Mecca was built.
This desired revival of a signature project of the Ottoman Empire is part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grand neo-Ottoman vision, combining expansion in the Mediterranean with an extension of land influence, a vision not at all shared by Israel, which has established its own presence in Syria’s south, beyond the Golan Heights.
That, and the fact that Turkey has been a safe haven for thousands of Hamas members and a severe critic of Israeli operations in Gaza, points to the possibility of a future clash.
Israel’s geopolitical importance for Greece has been enhanced, and the Israelis do not want the new government in Damascus to merely be a faithful executor of Ankara’s desire. Even the prospect of a Syrian-Turkish maritime memorandum does not leave the Netanyahu government indifferent.
The recent visit of Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen to Athens, a visit that had been postponed, and the meeting with his Greek counterpart, Thodoros Skylakakis, was a sign of support for a number of planned projects, including, notably, the 2GSI (Great Sea Interconnector) connecting the power grids of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, which has also prompted Turkey to send navy vessels near the Greek islands of Karpathos and Kassos, in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
As a former minister of foreign affairs (2022-24) and of intelligence (2020-21), Cohen is also well briefed in an important aspect of bilateral relations – defense cooperation. Israel has, without unnecessary delay, given Greece access to weapons systems that offer its armed forces a qualitative edge.
