Permission from Turkey is not required for the Great Sea Interconnector project (GSI), which, if completed, will connect the energy grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel, to go ahead, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasileiou said on Thursday.

“Planning for the cable is continuing as normal. Based on international law, permission is not required, let alone for a peaceful infrastructure project which will connect Europe with the Middle East,” he told Greek television channel Skai.

He added that French asset management firm Meridiam’s purchase of a majority stake in the project “constitutes a vote of confidence and means that the project is safe”.

“Greece is not going to leave any provocation unanswered and will not give in over any of its national interest … The planning is continuing as normal. Calmness and patience. The project is European,” he said.

Related Articles

His comments come with it expected that in the coming weeks or months, the Greek government will issue a navtex, a message used to transmit information to seaborne vessels, to warn sailors of plans to conduct seabed surveys for the laying of cables between Cyprus and Crete as part of the project.

On this front, Greece’s independent transmission system operator Admie, which owned the interconnector project until it was bought out by Meridiam earlier this month, was quoted as having said that around 60 per cent of the seabed surveys have been completed thus far.

The remaining 40 per cent of the impacted seabed, it said, is located in disputed waters which are claimed by both Greece and Turkey.

These conflicting claims have impeded attempts to carry out seabed surveys between Cyprus and Greece before, with Turkish naval vessels being deployed in 2024 after the Italian research vessel the Ievoli Reulme strayed into what Turkey believes to be its own waters.

The naval vessels escorted the research ship away from Turkey, but not before Greece, too, dispatched a number of its own naval vessels, including the frigates the Nikiforos Fokas and the Aittitos, to the area.

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis has since indicated that should a similar dispute arise again, Greece would once again be prepared to send warships into the disputed waters should Turkey do the same.

The dispute about the ownership of the waters stems from the question of whether islands generate their own exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or not.

Greece and Cyprus, citing the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), state that they do, while Turkey, which is not a signatory to Unclos, states they do not.

As such, according to Turkey’s position, beyond the 12 nautical miles of territorial waters to which Turkey believes both islands are entitled, the sea between Cyprus and Crete is Turkish.

By contrast, the position held by Greece and by the Republic of Cyprus is that, given that islands generate a full EEZ, the EEZs of Greece and Cyprus border one another south of Kastellorizo, Greece’s easternmost inhabited island.