Turkish media complain of anti-Turkey "dirty front" in Greece-Israel-Cyprus Tripartite

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a summit in East Jerusalem on Monday with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides.

Turkish media cited Israeli analysts who characterized the meeting between the leaders of Greece, Israel, and Cyprus as driven by shared concerns about Turkey.

According to Hürriyet, the cooperation among the three countries, which began with energy cooperation about 15 years ago, is moving toward a military alliance. The deepening of relations between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel in recent months has gone beyond a series of closed-door meetings.

Unlike their Greek counterparts, the Turkish outlet said, the Israeli media characterized the cooperation among the three countries as an “alliance,” announcing that the Mitsotakis and Christodoulides governments were building a comprehensive partnership with Netanyahu in the Eastern Mediterranean. While Greece and Cyprus are presented as “traditional adversaries” of Turkey, it is noted that the “triple alliance” is based on the pursuit of forming a common front against Turkey.

Israeli media reported that the alliance emerged amid tensions between Israel and Ankara and that "natural gas discoveries in the Israeli open sea, the anti-Zionist policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkey's sensitivity to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led Tel Aviv to seek new allies in the region."

The Star newspaper adopted aggressive language, personally targeting Netanyahu, whom it described as a "leader of genocide," while presenting his statement that "we do not seek conflict with Turkey" as a sign of retreat and weakness.

Correspondingly, A Haber spoke of a “dirty alliance in the Mediterranean”, accusing Greece, Cyprus and Israel of openly targeting Turkey. Haber7 went even further, speaking of Netanyahu’s “terrible threat” to Ankara, citing his phrase that “he hopes the alliance will not be tested”.

The nationalist Aydınlık included the Tripartite in the “Blue Homeland” narrative, describing it as a Greek Cypriot and Israeli alliance that seeks to thwart Turkish plans in the Eastern Mediterranean. Artı Gerçek moved on the same wavelength, highlighting the decision to strengthen military and defense cooperation between the three countries.

Of particular interest was Turkey's coverage, which linked the summit to broader geopolitical messages towards Ankara, speaking of "blocking accounts in Tel Aviv" and an indirect Turkish response to the developments.

Parallel contacts and statements regarding the Palestinian issue were also included in the Turkish publicity. Haber7 featured statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who called for pressure to freeze Israeli settlements in the West Bank and expressed support for Greece for a possible role in Gaza, presenting Athens as a player with a growing regional presence.

Overall, the Turkish media has treated the Tripartite not as a scheme for regional stability, but as a coordinated move to geopolitically encircle Turkey. The intensity of the rhetoric reflects Ankara’s discomfort with the institutional deepening of the Greece-Cyprus-Israeli cooperation and the fact that this scheme is gaining increasing international legitimacy, with support from the US and connections to broader initiatives in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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