The European Union and Turkey have drifted apart on foreign policy and need greater “alignment” to tackle threats including Islamic State, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Monday (8 December).
Energy-poor Turkey stands to benefit from Moscow’s surprise decision to drop the $45-billion South Stream natural gas pipeline project, analysts say. At the same time, it raises questions about whether Turkey will become a pawn in the broader energy contest between Russia and the EU.
Israel filed a complaint with NATO in late November over Turkey’s role in supporting terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza. Specifically, Israel called out Turkey for harboring and supporting known Hamas officials. The complaint specifically mentions Saleh al-Arouri, the head of Hamas’s armed wing in the West Bank, who has lived in Turkey since 2010. Arouri also claimed responsibility for this summer’s kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, an abduction that helped spark this summer’s 50-day war in Gaza.