Tacoy says Cyprus-Lebanon cable requires Turkey’s permission

Nicosia, Cyprus. A planned undersea electricity interconnection cable linking Cyprus and Lebanon is “not possible without Turkey’s permission”, Turkish Cypriot ‘energy minister’ Hasan Tacoy said on Wednesday. He said Turkey would have the final say over activities in what he described as Turkish territorial waters.

Navtex requirement

Tacoy told the Cyprus Mail that research, surveys, cable-laying and other nautical activities in the “Blue Homeland” could not proceed without the Republic of Turkey’s permission.

He said such activities require the publication of a navtex, a message used to transmit information to vessels at sea, to alert sailors about planned research or cable-laying work.

“In Turkish territorial waters, it is Turkey which applies them, just as it applies Notams in Turkish airspace,” he said.

Reference to Great Sea Interconnector

Tacoy referred to previous incidents involving the Great Sea Interconnector, saying Turkey had enforced its sovereignty when surveys were attempted in waters it considers Turkish without permission.

In 2024, Turkish naval vessels were deployed after the Italian research vessel Ievoli Reulme entered waters Turkey considers its own while carrying out seabed surveys between Cyprus and Crete for the Great Sea Interconnector.

The Turkish vessels escorted the research ship away from Turkey. Greece also sent naval vessels to the area, including the frigates Nikiforos Fokas and Aittitos.

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis has since said Greece would again be prepared to send warships into disputed waters if Turkey did the same.

Disputed maritime claims

Tacoy said the same rule would apply to a planned cable to Lebanon or Israel if the activities took place in Turkish territorial waters.

The dispute over the waters concerns whether islands generate their own exclusive economic zones. Greece and Cyprus, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, say they do. Turkey, which is not a signatory to the convention, says they do not and has set out maritime claims through its “Blue Homeland” doctrine based on its continental shelf.