Greece has declared Turkey's latest maritime notice invalid, issuing a counter-NAVTEX rejecting Ankara's claim over wate...

Greece has declared Turkey's latest maritime notice invalid, issuing a counter-NAVTEX rejecting Ankara's claim over waters where a major subsea fiber-optic cable is planned to run from Saudi Arabia to Europe. The dispute centers on the East to Med Data Corridor, or EMC, a planned cable that would connect Saudi Arabia to Europe through Cyprus and Greece. The Hellenic Navy's Hydrographic Service, operating through the Heraklion station in Crete, issued NAVTEX 1337/26 declaring Turkey's notice FA41-1032/26 null and void. Greece stated that the vast majority of the coordinates in the Turkish warning fall within its own continental shelf under international law and Greek Law 4001/2011, and called for the Turkish notice's immediate cancellation. The Bahamas-flagged survey vessel Kobi Ruegg is tasked with conducting the geophysical surveys ahead of the cable's installation. Greece followed up with a second notice, NAVTEX 1343/26, setting out a concrete schedule for two survey phases: October 23 to 25 southeast of Crete, and October 27 to 30 along a more southerly route from west of Cyprus toward southeast of Crete. All activity must comply with Greek permit No. 2461, dated October 2. Turkey maintains the survey area falls within its own continental shelf, citing outer limits it unilaterally submitted to the United Nations in March 2020, and claims it had already authorized the Kobi Ruegg's operations itself. Cyprus is caught up in the same dispute. On October 15, its Larnaca station issued a NAVTEX covering surveys within Cyprus's exclusive economic zone through November 2. Turkey fired back the next day with a counter-NAVTEX, claiming the Larnaca station had no authority over the area and that warnings should come from Turkey's Antalya station instead. The EMC cable project is a separate undertaking from the Great Sea Interconnector, the planned electricity link between Greece and Cyprus that has also drawn Turkish opposition. #Greece #Turkey #EasternMediterranean