Erdogan eyes blocking East Med gas boom

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's unprecedented threat to send the Turkish navy into the eastern Mediterranean to challenge Israel is primarily aimed at torpedoing efforts by the Jewish state and Greek Cypriots to develop rich offshore natural gas fields.

Turkey, until recently a staunch ally of Israel, is determined to become the champion of the Arabs and hitting at Israel's newfound energy resources would have a profound impact.

Greece is Turkey's historical rival and Ankara doesn't want to see the Greek Cypriots, who rule the southern sector of the war-divided island, joining with Israel to exploit the natural gas fields while cutting out the Turkish Cypriots.

Erdogan has been at odds with Israel for the last three years over its occupation of Palestinian land.

But the rift widened alarmingly May 31, 2010, when Israeli forces killed nine Turks aboard a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.

When Israel refused to formally apologize for the incident, Erdogan booted out the Israeli ambassador and senior diplomats Sept. 2.

He also pledged to reinforce Turkish naval patrols around the gas fields between Israel and Cyprus.

That threatens Israel's drive to start producing gas from two key fields -- Leviathan and Tamar -- which between them contain reserves estimated at 25 trillion cubic feet of gas.

That would transform the economy of Israel, which has had to import nearly all its energy requirements, and even allow it to export gas.