Gerapetritis on interconnector sea dispute: Greece will exercise sovereign rights

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis on Monday stressed that Greece will “fully exercise its sovereign rights” in the eastern Mediterranean, with it foreseen that the country’s plans to build an electricity cable to Cyprus may bring to the fore its maritime territorial dispute with Turkey. He was asked during an appearance on Greek television channel Open whether the Greek government would be prepared to order the deployment of frigates to the area should Turkey deploy naval vessels to escort research ships out of its claimed exclusive economic zone, and said that “today, more than ever”, Greece will defend its “sovereign rights”. Pressed on the question of whether the Greek government would, in fact, deploy frigates in such a scenario, he said, “how much simpler can I say it?”. “Greece has proven that it can send frigates and it can send F-16 [fighter jets], and from next year, F-35s. It proved it in Cyprus, it proved it in the Middle East crisis, it proves it every day,” he said. Related Articles • Mitsotakis hails French investment in interconnector • EU support for interconnector a ‘shield against Turkish opposition’ • Interconnector navtex to be issued ‘as soon as possible’ • EU, former minister at odds with Damianos over interconnector comments • Great Sea Interconnector ‘a European issue’, Greece’s Papastavrou says • No confirmation of reports of navtex for interconnector surveys As such, he said, “if necessary, of course there will be a frigate and there will be the upgraded F-16s”, before adding that “Greek society should not worry”. 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 Great Sea Interconnector project. On this front, Earlier, Greece’s independent transmission system operator Admie, which owned the interconnector project until it was bought out by French asset management firm 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. In response, the European Commission said that it “continues to expect Turkey to unequivocally commit to and promote good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes”. 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.