Turkey issued a rival NAVTEX on Friday through its Antalya station, overriding Greece's official maritime notice for the...

Turkey issued a rival NAVTEX on Friday through its Antalya station, overriding Greece's official maritime notice for the multinational live-fire exercise EUNOMIA 2026, scheduled for October 19 in waters south of Kastellorizo. Greece's Heraklion Hydrographic Station had issued the NAVTEX late Thursday night under its recognized authority over the Athens FIR and Greek continental shelf. Ankara responded by republishing the same coordinates under its own Antalya station, declaring Heraklion "incompetent" to issue navigational warnings in that zone. The timing is not accidental. The same sea area is expected to be crossed by the research vessel Abeille Marengo, which has been cleared to resume survey operations for the planned undersea electricity cable connecting Crete to Cyprus. Greece's Coast Guard Headquarters confirmed a formal request has been submitted for the vessel to operate within Greek territorial waters. Turkey is claiming the cable's route crosses its own continental shelf and is demanding that Athens notify or coordinate with Turkish authorities before any activity proceeds. That position is being amplified across Turkish media, which is framing the dispute as a potential flashpoint. The front page of Hurriyet went further, suggesting France could be the key to preventing a crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean, linking the cable tension to the broader diplomatic thaw between Ankara and Paris. Athens holds firm that the Heraklion station is the sole legitimate authority for this zone under the International Maritime Organization framework. Turkey's move fits squarely within its "Blue Homeland" doctrine, which asserts sweeping maritime jurisdiction across large portions of the Eastern Mediterranean that Greece and Cyprus consider their own sovereign waters. #Greece #Turkey #EasternMediterranean