Energy Minister Michael Damianos on Thursday said that a navtex, a message used to transmit information to seaborne vessels, will be issued before the end of the month to warn sailors of plans to conduct seabed surveys for the laying of cables between Cyprus and Crete as part of the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) project.
He told CyBC radio that with the Greek coastguard having said on Wednesday that French-flagged research ship the Abeille Marengo will be the ship conducting the surveys, it is now expected that the navtex will be issued “in the coming days and weeks”, and “definitely within October”.
“We are happy because the project will start running, as previously agreed,” he said, later adding that with the project “now progressing”, the government will pay the €25 million it had agreed to pay Greece’s independent power transmission operator Admie in advance of the project’s completion.
It had initially been agreed in 2024 that the Cypriot government would pay €25m a year to Admie, which at the time owned the interconnector project outright, until it is completed, so as to ensure that Admie would have a stable income while investing in the project before the project itself turns a profit.
However, the Cypriot government then stalled these payments, saying that it had done so as no progress had been made towards its completion last year.
Since then, French asset management firm Meridiam has taken a controlling stake (66 per cent) of the interconnector project, with the government now expecting that this will expedite its completion.
Despite this, questions still remain over the future of the planned seabed surveys, given that the navtex is expected to concern planned surveys in disputed waters which are claimed by both Greece and Turkey.
Greek, Turkish frigates have faced off over interconnector before
These conflicting claims have impeded attempts to carry out seabed surveys between Cyprus and Greece before.
In 2024, Turkish naval vessels were deployed after the Italian research vessel the Ievoli Reulme strayed into what Turkey believes to be its own waters.
The naval vessels escorted the research ship away from Turkey, but not before Greece, too, dispatched a number of its own naval vessels, including the frigates the Nikiforos Fokas and the Aittitos, to the area.
The dispute about the ownership of the waters stems from the question of whether islands generate their own exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or not.
Greece and Cyprus, citing the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), state that they do, while Turkey, which is not a signatory to Unclos, states they do not.
As such, according to Turkey’s position, beyond the 12 nautical miles of territorial waters to which Turkey believes both islands are entitled, the sea between Cyprus and Crete is Turkish.
By contrast, the position held by Greece and by the Republic of Cyprus is that, given that islands generate a full EEZ, the EEZs of Greece and Cyprus border one another south of Kastellorizo, Greece’s easternmost inhabited island.
Athens, Ankara silent over ‘notification’ before navtex
On this occasion, it has been reported in recent weeks that while not conceding the claim, the Greek and French governments plan to “notify” Turkey of their intentions prior to issuing the navtex, with France now more closely involved in the project thanks to Meridiam’s controlling stake and the planned use of the Abeille Marengo.
However, these reports are yet to be verified, and when the Cyprus Mail reached out to both the Greek and Turkish governments on the matter, both refused to provide a response.