Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis drew a firm line on Turkey's involvement in the Greece-Cyprus electricity in...

Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis drew a firm line on Turkey's involvement in the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnector project, saying Athens submitted its licensing requests to Greek authorities alone and has no intention of seeking approval from Ankara or any other foreign power. "The project will proceed as planned," Marinakis said, adding that notifications required under international frameworks for carrying out works are entirely separate from licensing. Greece, he said, does not cede sovereign rights and does not ask anyone's permission to exercise them. Marinakis also dismissed the Libyan parliament's approval of the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum, calling it "illegal and non-existent." He said a parliamentary vote cannot legitimize an agreement that has no basis in international law, and that the decision produces no legal effects on Greece's sovereign rights, changing neither geography nor the law of the sea. He tied renewed Greek-Egyptian consultations on extending their 2020 exclusive economic zone delimitation agreement directly to Turkey's maritime claims, framing the diplomatic push as Greece's concrete answer to Ankara. Greece has also referenced its maritime zone agreements with Italy and the extension of territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea as part of that strategy. On the Libya developments, Marinakis said the foreign ministry mobilized immediately, briefed allies, and helped secure a European position against the Turkey-Libya memorandum. "Greece is not defined by others. It does not wait for the moves of others," he said. #Greece #Cyprus #EasternMediterranean