New alliance in the Aegean: Everyone is there except Turkey

The multinational Iniochos 2025 air exercise, held at Greece's Andravida Air Base between March 31 and April 11, transformed into a diplomatic platform containing geopolitical messages beyond mere military capacity. Countries including Greece, Israel, India, the UK, the Greek Cypriot Administration, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain participated in the US-led exercise. However, Turkey, a significant power in the region, was left out of the exercise.

During the exercise, Israel's G550 Nachshon early warning aircraft, Qatar's F-15QA fighter jets, the UAE's Mirage 2000-9s, and Bahrain's F-16s operated in the same airspace. With this organization, the US sent a message that a security order is being built in the Eastern Mediterranean without Turkey.

QATAR'S SECRET INVITATION

One of the most striking details of the exercise was Qatar acting alongside Israel. Qatar, which has taken on a mediator role in the war in Gaza and is counted among Hamas's financial supporters, this time took part in the same flight scenarios as Israel. Moreover, according to Israeli media, Qatar wanted its participation to be kept secret, but Greece leaked this information to the press.

Qatar's involvement in the same operations as Israel is considered a major rupture in terms of diplomatic balances in the Middle East. The fact that Qatar and Israel were in the same briefing room working on joint military scenarios shows that alliances in the region are changing rapidly.

A NEW BLOCK IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN WITHOUT TURKEY

The official purpose of the exercise was announced as ensuring stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and guaranteeing the security of trade routes extending from India to Europe. However, Turkey was not included in the front created for this goal. Qatar, which participated in the exercise, is known as a "friend of Turkey" with investments exceeding 33 billion dollars in sectors such as media, banking, and the defense industry in Turkey. However, there has been no reaction from Ankara yet regarding Qatar acting together with Israel and the Greek Cypriot Administration in this exercise.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had praised the support Qatar gave to Turkey during the July 15 coup attempt with the words "a friend in dark days." Furthermore, during his 2021 visit to Doha, he had stated, "We do not separate the security and stability of Qatar from that of our own country." However, this exercise showed that Qatar's military position in the Eastern Mediterranean has changed and that it is acting on a line independent of Turkey.

BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS

One of the other notable topics of the exercise was Israel-Qatar relations. It is known that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being tried on allegations of receiving 15 million dollars in bribes from Qatar in the 2012 elections and 50 million dollars in the 2018 elections. Israel had not been participating in exercises due to diplomatic tensions with Turkey in 2023 and its stance in the Gaza war in 2024.

News Source: 12punto