Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel extolled the “alliance of stability” her country has formed with both Greece and Cyprus, pushing back against distaste, particularly in Turkey and inside the Turkish Cypriot community, at deepening relations between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.

“Look at what is happening around the world – so much war, instability, the radicalisation of so many countries, whether it is Iraq, Lebanon, and the Iranian army of Hezbollah, the [Islamic revolutionary guards], the army of Hezbollah has been destroying the country,” she told Greek public broadcaster ERT.

She added that “they are doing the same in Iraq” and that “they have destroyed Iran, persecuted their own people, and they are exporting this radicalisation and instability to so many other continents”.

“In a world of radicalisation, we need to create an alliance of stability,” she said.

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Earlier, she had spoken of “thousands of years of mutual history” connecting Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, “between the Greek philosophy and the Jewish tradition”.

“For us, this is a continuation of our shared history,” she added.

This deepening of relations has drawn pushback, however, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan having said that the Israeli government “met with the Greek Cypriot administration and formed an alliance against Muslim countries in the region” during his intervention at last month’s Antalya diplomacy forum.

“We do not do what they do. We are looking for ways to extinguish the conflicts in our region, ensure economic progress, and bring stability to life,” he said.

Later, when asked about relations between the Greek Cypriots and Israel, he said that Turkey’s “reaction” to them has been “minimal”, as “we never wanted to disturb the spirit of cooperation” between Turkey and Greece.

The Greek Cypriot side’s political gravitation towards Israel had also been criticised by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman during his appearance at the same forum. 

“If an alliance is formed with a state which kills children, and this is done by violating the will and sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriot people, I will explain this to the entire international community. This is a violation of my sovereign rights, my equal sovereign rights,” he said.

Earlier in the year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had referred to relations between his country and both Greece and Cyprus as being part of a a “hexagon of alliances”.

“We will create an entire system, essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances, around or within the Middle East, including India, Arab national, African Nations, Mediterranean nations – Greece and Cyprus – and nations in Asia that I won’t detail at the moment,” he said. 

He added that the aim of this “hexagon of alliances” it to “create an axis of countries that see reality, the challenges, and the goals in the same way, in contrast to the radical axes”, listing those axes as “both the radical Shiite axis, which we have hit very hard, and also the emerging axis, the radical Sunni axis”. 

Relations between Turkey and Israel soured in the aftermath of Israel’s offensive in Gaza in 2023, and have only continued to sour since Israel and the United States embarked on a new conflict with Iran at the beginning of March. 

Most recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of “piracy and banditry” when the country’s navy on Monday intercepted a fleet of boats attempting to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the strip some 90 nautical miles off the coast of Cyprus.