Greece will not seek Turkey's approval to build the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection, government spokesman Pavl...

Greece will not seek Turkey's approval to build the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Sunday, as Ankara simultaneously issued a new NAVTEX for underwater surveys off occupied Cyprus. Marinakis was unambiguous in an interview with mononews: "The project will proceed normally. The licensing requests have been submitted to the Greek authorities and only to the Greek authorities. There is no question of obtaining permission from Turkey or from any other foreign authority." He drew a clear line between routine international notifications required for carrying out underwater works and the entirely separate matter of licensing, which remains exclusively a Greek sovereign decision. He described the interconnection as a European project involving Greece, Cyprus and France, with the explicit goal of ending Cyprus's status as the only EU member state still isolated from the European energy grid. "Greece does not cede sovereign rights and does not ask anyone's permission to exercise them," he added. Marinakis also addressed the Libya-Turkey maritime memorandum, which the Libyan parliament recently approved. He dismissed it flatly, calling it "illegal and void" and stating it "produces no legal effects against Greece and its sovereign rights." He connected the restart of Greece-Egypt talks on extending their 2020 EEZ agreement to Athens' broader strategy, framing it as a response "not with words, but with diplomatic initiatives, alliances and agreements." While Athens was laying out that position, Turkey issued a NAVTEX covering 12 coordinates in waters between its coast and occupied Cyprus, valid from October 26 to December 31, 2026. According to TRT Haber, the survey involves vessels R/V Denar Pathfinder, Denar Echo, Denar Explorer and Kırıcı, and is linked to a proposed Turkish natural gas pipeline running to the occupied north, following an earlier underwater water pipeline project in the same area. #Greece #Cyprus #EasternMediterranean