Turkey has issued a counter-NAVTEX to Greece, claiming jurisdiction over waters where Greece launched its Eunomia naval ...

Turkey has issued a counter-NAVTEX to Greece, claiming jurisdiction over waters where Greece launched its Eunomia naval exercise this past Friday. The Turkish response, reported by the newspaper Hurriyet under the headline "This Space Is Mine," directly challenges Athens's authority over a stretch of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Greece issued the original NAVTEX to cover the Eunomia exercise, which runs through October 22 and is conducted alongside France, Italy, and Cyprus. Turkey's counter-notice states that the area falls under the jurisdiction of its Antalya station, not any Greek authority. The dispute has been sharpened by an underwater power cable project, with the exercise area overlapping significantly with the cable's planned route. French contractor Nexans filed its seabed survey applications exclusively with Greek authorities, with the Greek government confirming no agreement was reached with any other country. Turkey, however, says France as the flag state should have coordinated with Ankara diplomatically before any activity along a route it considers to overlap with its own continental shelf. The Hurriyet article, citing SKAI correspondent Manolis Kostidis in Istanbul, frames Ankara's position as a jurisdictional challenge rather than a one-off protest. Turkey is not asking the contractor for permission, it is demanding that France, as the state behind the project, recognize Turkey's claim before the work begins. This is the latest flashpoint in the ongoing Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean jurisdictional standoff between the two NATO members. Turkey's use of a counter-NAVTEX, a formal maritime navigational notice, signals it is treating the area as disputed territory under its own operational authority. #Greece #Turkey #Aegean