A Page Long Summary of all the Wars in the Middle East

Iakovos Alhadeff

Copyright 2014 by Iakovos AlhadeffPublished by Iakovos Alhadeff at Smashwords

I will try to make a summary of my previous posts about the energy wars that we are

experiencing in Middle East. The main idea is that there is Iran, which is very rich in both

natural gas and oil, and there is Saudi Arabia, which is very rich in oil, and there is Qatar,

which is very rich in natural gas, and there is Turkey, which is very rich in neither.

Iran wants to construct pipelines that will transfer its natural gas and oil to Syria (or even

Lebanon), and from them to Europe. This is the Shiite Muslim pipeline route with the

Green line. Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to send their oil and natural gas respectively to

Europe, through the red pipeline i.e. the Sunni Muslim pipeline, through Qatar, Saudi

Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Turkey wants this pipeline because it wants to be the

ultimate energy hub of the Mediterranean Sea, and the Shiite pipeline bypasses it.

The counties that control Syria and Iraq, can build their pipeline and sell their energy, and

at the same time block the competitor pipelines, as you can see on the map. That’s all the

fighting about. At the same time, Israel, together with Cyprus, started extracting its

natural gas in the Mediterranean, and that could be another source of energy to Europe

i.e. the yellow line.

Erdogan cannot accept that, and it is equally hostile to both Syria’s Assad and Israel, who

dared to bypass his country as an energy hub, the first with the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline

and the second with the Israel-Cyprus agreement. As you can see at the following map,

both the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipelines are very close to the port of Ceyhan, which is the end

of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline that brings oil from the Caspean Sea to the Mediterranean

Sea, and not only generates millions for Turkey, but it dramatically increases its

geopolitical importance for the Americans and the Europeans too. You can see the Baku-

Ceyhan pipeline on the map below.

Source: http://www.azerbaijans.com/content_468_ru.html

The Israelis are discussing with the Turks the black line (first map), i.e. to send their

natural gas through Turkey in order not to bypass them as an energy hub. However in the

case of Israel Turkey is not only asking the role of the mediator, but wants a part of the

pie since the natural gas of the Mediterranean is in its backyard. That’s basically all.

The benefit of stopping the Iranians is immense for these three countries even if they do

not build the red pipeline network. Because if the Iranians manage to send oil and natural

gas to the Mediterranean Sea, it will be much cheaper for the Europeans to buy them,

instead of having to send ships to the Persian Gulf to buy Saudi oil and Qatari gas and

bring them back. Therefore with this pipeline the Iranians could finish the Saudi oil and

Qatari gas in European markets, or at least reduce them dramatically, while at the same

time eliminating or greatly reducing Turkey's great geopolitical significance as an energy

hub, since the pipeline would end next to Turkey's Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.