Any help with understanding this sentence would be really appreciated. Here is the sentence:
No one could have predicted a new offshore race for natural resources, or changing alliances in which Turkey would abandon its long-time friend, Israel, which in turn would seek a partnership with the Republic of Cyprus.
What I haven't understood from this sentence is who was going to seek a partnership with the Republic of Cyprus? Is there a relative clause in the sentence that I didn't get and what does "which" refer to?
Best Answer
The pronoun "which", when used as a conjunction, normally refers to the closest previous noun. So the first "which" refers to "changing alliances", and the second (most likely) refers to "Israel".
The phrase "in turn" indicates that part of the sentence will describe two separate but similar actions by two different subjects. For example:
Because of this, I don't expect Turkey to be the subject of the second action, since it is the subject of the first action.
Note that we can infer that Turkey and Cyprus are not friendly, since otherwise it would not be surprising that Israel formed a relationship with them only after breaking with Turkey. But that's more about logic than about grammar.