On July 10, Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding with the illegal administration of Northern Cyprus for a 97-kilometer bidirectional submarine gas pipeline. The project will run from Turkey’s southern coast near Alanya to the Teknecik power station outside Kyrenia. Two parallel 22-inch lines will initially carry natural gas from Turkey to power plants in northern Cyprus that currently burn expensive liquid fuels. Turkish officials designed the system for reversible flow, allowing future eastern Mediterranean discoveries to transit northward through Turkish-controlled territory toward Europe.
Ankara’s move entrenches the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” as a dependent entity while rejecting the sovereign rights of the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus over its exclusive economic zone. Erdogan’s entity has harassed Cypriot drilling operations for years in waters where the European Union member holds legitimate claims under international law. The new pipeline creates permanent infrastructure that reinforces the island’s division and positions Turkey as a future transit hub for regional gas.
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Meanwhile, Israeli energy companies and the Netanyahu administration have long pursued cooperation with Cyprus and Greece to develop export routes that avoid such choke points and adversarial control. Major Israeli fields such as Leviathan hold more than 600 billion cubic meters in proven reserves — enough to secure southern export corridors while delivering both commercial returns and greater strategic autonomy for the Jewish state.
Turkey’s project directly threatens Israel’s energy security. A Turkish-controlled corridor that bypasses southern routes reduces Israel’s leverage with European buyers and complicates joint development with the legitimate Cyprus government. The bidirectional design signals Ankara’s intention to capture future production from fields near disputed boundaries. Turkey’s pattern of unilateral action already strains the trilateral partnership among Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, which gives Jerusalem vital diplomatic depth and operational cooperation against shared threats from Iran and its proxies.
The United States also loses ground. American policy has long encouraged European energy diversification away from Russian and Iranian influence. Today, infrastructure linking Israel, Cyprus, and Greece advances that objective while strengthening partnerships connected to the Abraham Accords. Therefore, Turkey’s pipeline weakens cohesion among NATO allies and regional partners.
The message is clear: revisionist powers can create new realities on the seabed while Washington debates its response. Limited pushback invites additional Turkish pressure on maritime boundaries affecting American interests across the eastern Mediterranean.
Congress should enact the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor Protection Act. This legislation would direct the Department of Defense to conduct regular freedom-of-navigation operations to protect allied survey vessels and installation ships operating within the internationally recognized exclusive economic zones of Cyprus and Israel. The bill should also authorize expedited security assistance and intelligence sharing with Cyprus while imposing secondary sanctions on any entity that interferes with those operations.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration should launch the Abraham Energy Shield Initiative. This geostrategic framework would integrate Israeli, Cypriot, and Greek offshore gas development under formal American security guarantees modeled on extended deterrence.
EGYPT’S OCTAGON AND ERDOGAN’S NEO-OTTOMAN DANGEROUS GAME
Washington should condition future Turkish arms purchases and diplomatic engagement on a verifiable end to Ankara’s interference in Eastern Mediterranean waters. At the same time, targeted economic incentives for Turkish Cypriots should reward steps that curb Turkey’s military dominance and open the door to wider regional energy cooperation. This strategy would protect alternative export routes, reassure investors, deter coercion, and deny Ankara a veto over Israel’s energy security.
Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman empire ambitions are now operational, and the pipeline to northern Cyprus proves that Washington must treat Turkey as a revisionist power rather than a credible, transactional ally.
Jose Lev Alvarez is an American–Israeli scholar specializing in international security policy. A multilingual veteran of the IDF special forces and the U.S. Army, he holds three master’s degrees and is completing a Ph.D. in Intelligence and Global Security in the Washington, D.C., area.
