Chatzivasiliou: Cable authorization came only from Athens, with no Türkiye accord

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasiliou claimed that authorization for the Greece–Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus electricity cable project was requested and granted only by Athens, and that only Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus can exercise sovereign rights in the cable area.

In an interview with ERTnews, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasiliou said there had been no agreement with Türkiye during the authorization process for the electricity interconnection cable project between Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus. Chatzivasiliou said authorization had been requested and granted only by Greece, and that the Heraklion station subsequently issued a NAVTEX.

Chatzivasiliou said the relevant authorization had been granted by Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and claimed that only Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus could exercise sovereign rights in the cable area. The deputy minister argued that the absence of an agreement was also evident from a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry saying that the French vessel’s operations had been conducted without permission from Türkiye.

Chatzivasiliou argued that the project was moving forward and that the Greek government was not hesitating to exercise its sovereign rights. He said the project was financed by the European Union and supported by allies, including the United States, and claimed that Türkiye’s counter-NAVTEX was based on maps and arguments it had submitted to the United Nations since 2020, which he said were incompatible with international law.

Yeni Demokrasi Partisi milletvekili Angelos Sirigos (arşiv)

In the Greek press, remarks by Angelos Syrigos, a lawmaker from the ruling New Democracy party and a professor of international law, sparked debate. Syrigos opposed the proposal to delimit an exclusive economic zone between Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, saying: "With our current navy, if the Turks conduct exercises or research in that area, we cannot drive them away. There is no point in signing an agreement that we cannot enforce."

The Turkish Foreign Ministry had previously said that a French-flagged vessel had attempted to conduct unauthorized research on Türkiye’s continental shelf. The project, which has received approximately 670 million euros in EU financing, passes through the maritime area between Crete and Cyprus.

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