Last week, a trilateral military cooperation plan was signed in Cyprus between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, followed by two bilateral cooperation plans – between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Greek Armed Forces, and between the IDF and the Cyprus National Guard.
The agreements were signed in Nicosia during the annual joint meeting of the three countries' military chiefs. Their signing was officially announced by the Israeli military. The news was received largely positively by the Cypriot media and public.
Although details of the agreements were not made public, DW has learned that they include provisions for joint military exercises and training, the creation of working groups in specialized fields, and the development of a strategic military dialogue.
According to the same sources, the agreements also provide for the exchange of expertise on modern security threats, including unmanned systems and electronic warfare.
Tripartite cooperation – a new alliance?
The announcement of military cooperation is the practical implementation of political decisions taken by the leaders of the three countries – Benjamin Netanyahu, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nikos Christodoulides – during the 10th trilateral summit of Israel, Greece and Cyprus, held on December 22.
Summarizing a joint press statement issued after the meeting in Jerusalem, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said the three countries had decided to deepen cooperation “with a focus on energy, defense and security,” calling for “agreements that will move immediately to the implementation phase.”
Speaking to DW, Zenonas Tziarras, from the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus, stressed that trilateral cooperation between these countries is not new and that the first such summit was held in 2016.
Noting that Greece, Cyprus and Israel have been cooperating in these areas for years, Tziarras warned that, despite the tendency of political leaders to exaggerate the results of these meetings, it should be clear that “military, defense and security cooperation does not in itself constitute an alliance.”
"A true alliance implies a commitment to collective defense, according to which an attack on one state is considered an attack on all. The current trilateral cooperation is therefore an 'alliance' in name only," he said.
Turkey's concerns about Israeli arms purchases
The lack of concrete results, which could change the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, may also explain Turkey's relatively restrained reaction after the announcement of the agreement.
Turkish President Erdogan, unlike pro-government Turkish media that describes the cooperation as an “anti-Turkish axis of evil,” took a noticeably moderate tone, declaring that the three countries’ initiatives “have no real weight,” comparing them to “empty noise, like the sound of a tin can.”
What seems to worry Turkey more than the trilateral agreements themselves is the fact that Greece and Cyprus are increasingly turning to Israel for the procurement of modern weapons systems.
In the case of Cyprus in particular, Ankara has issued strong warnings that purchasing arms from Israel could lead to destabilization on the island.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, following a Turkish military intervention, into the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The northern part of the island is under Turkish military control and administered by TRNC institutions.
Turkey's reaction was particularly harsh last September, when the Israeli Barak MX air defense system was installed and put into operational use in the Republic of Cyprus.
The system’s capabilities are comparable to the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system. While the purchase was part of the Cypriot government’s decision to gradually replace Russian military equipment, which can no longer be maintained due to sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it now also fits into the country’s broader “Western orientation” and its stated intention to pursue NATO membership.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has described the deployment of the system as a threat to regional stability, warning that "the policies of the Greek and Cypriot sides undermine stability and peace in the region and risk provoking an arms race on the island."
A similar reaction is expected regarding the implementation of a separate agreement between the Cypriot and Israeli defense ministries for the purchase of an integrated surveillance system from the Israeli company Elbit, intended for monitoring the “Green Line” – a UN-controlled buffer zone that has divided Cyprus since 1974. The installation of the defense system is currently postponed due to the war in Gaza, although Cypriot officers have already been trained in Israel to use it./DW
