Turkey's Defence Ministry declared Thursday it will block any work on the Great Sea Interconnector, the undersea electri...

Turkey's Defence Ministry declared Thursday it will block any work on the Great Sea Interconnector, the undersea electricity cable planned to connect Greece and Cyprus via Crete, unless it is first approved by Ankara. A ministry spokesperson said that any cable or pipeline laying in what Turkey considers its continental shelf requires prior coordination with Turkey as the "coastal state." Ankara bases this claim on maritime delimitation agreements it signed with Libya and with the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an entity recognised only by Turkey, lodged at the United Nations in March 2020. Greece and Cyprus both reject these claims outright and consider the Turkish-Libyan memorandum legally void under international law. The statement came on the same day Greece's Defence Minister Nikos Dendias was in Nicosia for the 66th anniversary of Cypriot independence. Dendias laid wreaths at the Imprisoned Graves and the Monument of Democracy and Resistance, alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. Turkey's spokesperson also attacked the independence day military parade in Nicosia, which included contingents from the United States, France, and Britain, as well as Cyprus's newest weapons systems. Ankara accused the "Greek Cypriot administration," its term for the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus, of deepening military ties with third countries and disturbing what it called the "delicate balance" on the island. Turkey has occupied the northern third of Cyprus since its military invasion in 1974. The spokesperson reiterated Ankara's position that any solution on Cyprus must include recognition of the "sovereign equality" of Turkish Cypriots, a framing Greece and Cyprus have consistently rejected as a path toward formalising the illegal occupation. The Great Sea Interconnector is considered a strategic energy project for both Greece and Cyprus, reducing their dependence on third-party energy sources. #Greece #Cyprus #Turkey