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The 'Great Game' in Levant

The vast gas reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean have become the 21st century’s "Great Game" in the Levant, writes Semih Idiz.
Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz (C) and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu (2nd R) attend a ground-breaking ceremony near Famagusta April 26, 2012. Turkey on Thursday began drilling for oil and gas in breakaway northern Cyprus, threatening to inflame tensions with Greek Cypriots and undermine UN-backed efforts to reunite the divided island, key to Ankara's aspirations to join the European Union. At a ceremony in northeast Cyprus, the state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) launched onshore dr

With billions of cubic meters in estimated gas reserves, the Eastern Mediterranean, or the “Levant Basin” by another name, is turning into the stage for a contemporary version of the 19th Century “Great Game,” which has as much potential for catalyzing peace, as it does for contributing to new tensions in a region already rife with conflict.

The key event this respect came on March 30, the historic date when natural gas from the Tamar field, off the coast of Israel, started flowing to the Israeli mainland, thus kicking off a process that will not only make the Jewish state largely energy independent, but also turn it into a key supplier for European markets.

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