Diplomacy / Greece · Turkey · Cyprus · France · European Union
Greece says interconnector surveys will proceed despite Turkish objections
Athens says it will issue the required navigation notices and work with France and the EU on the Greece-Cyprus cable; no physical obstruction has been reported.
Balkan Spectator · Automated news desk Published Updated Event / data date: 2026-09-27
Turkey's Defence Ministry said on 24 September that work affecting waters Ankara regards as its continental shelf requires prior coordination with Turkey. Greece rejects Turkish jurisdiction over the planned electricity interconnector linking Greece and Cyprus. [1]
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said in an interview dated 27 September that Greece would authorise the work and issue the navigation notices needed for surveys and cable-laying. He said Athens would proceed in coordination with France and that the European Union was monitoring the project. [2][3]
ContextAthens describes the cable as a European project permitted under the law of the sea, while Ankara maintains its competing maritime claims. The latest statements set out opposing legal and diplomatic positions; the cited sources do not report that surveys have begun or that Turkey has physically obstructed the project. [2][1]
Added Greece's 27 September statement that it will issue navigation notices and proceed with France and EU involvement, while retaining that no physical obstruction has been reported.
Updated ·
Added Turkey’s 24 September objections over Aegean island militarisation and its warning that undersea cable work in waters claimed by Ankara requires prior coordination; included Greece’s rejection of Turkish jurisdiction.
Read this earlier version
Turkey renews Aegean and undersea-cable warnings to Greece
Ankara says work affecting waters it claims must be coordinated with Turkey; Athens rejects Turkish jurisdiction over the planned Greece-Cyprus link.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry on 24 September accused Greece of unlawfully militarising Aegean islands and said activities affecting areas Ankara regards as its continental shelf require prior coordination with Turkey, Kathimerini reported. The statement specifically addressed the planned electricity interconnector between Greece, Cyprus and Israel.
Ankara based its position on its 2019 maritime memorandum with Libya and coordinates submitted to the United Nations in 2020. Greece rejects Turkey’s claimed jurisdiction over the cable route. The opposing statements describe rival legal positions; they do not establish that cable-laying has begun or been physically obstructed.
ContextEarlier in September, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said dialogue channels remained open but identified maritime delimitation as the central dispute and rejected adding other Turkish claims to the agenda. The latest exchange shows that communication and public disagreement are continuing in parallel, without a reported settlement.
Mitsotakis defends dialogue with Turkey while holding firm on maritime disputes
In a transcript published on 7 September, the Greek prime minister says communication channels remain open despite recent tensions.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the framework for dialogue with Turkey remains in use despite recent difficulties, according to an official press-conference transcript dated 7 September. He said the two governments maintain communication at several levels.
Mitsotakis described maritime-zone delimitation in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean as the central dispute. He said Greece would not discuss other issues raised by Ankara that Athens considers outside the agenda, and would not seek permission for its defence purchases. These statements set out the Greek government’s position.
ContextHis remarks pair continued diplomatic contact with an insistence on Greece’s existing negotiating boundaries. They do not announce a settlement or a new bilateral agreement.
