Greece is moving forward with the Cyprus-Crete undersea power cable regardless of Turkey's newly declared marine park ne...

Greece is moving forward with the Cyprus-Crete undersea power cable regardless of Turkey's newly declared marine park near Kastellorizo, and maps of the planned route confirm the cable passes many miles south of the park's boundaries. The route was designed that way from the start, meaning Turkey's marine park argument is simply irrelevant to the project. The real obstacle has always been the Turkey-Libya Maritime Memorandum, not any environmental protection zone. Turkey blocked the survey vessel Ievoli Relume in July 2024, just outside the 6 nautical mile territorial waters of Kasos, on the grounds that any activity within the area it claims under the memorandum requires Turkish approval. That area overlaps directly with the Greek-Egyptian EEZ agreement, which Greece and Egypt formalized years ago and which Turkey refuses to recognize. Rerouting the cable further south has been considered and rejected before. Running it through Egyptian waters would require crossing seafloor terrain that is geologically unsuitable and would significantly increase the cable's length, making the project economically unviable. Athens says it is ready to issue a NAVTEX navigation notice the moment the project's operator, French firm Meridiam, formally requests it. Now there is a new development that adds weight to the situation. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the IDF Intelligence Directorate, Mossad, and Israeli Naval Intelligence are all examining the Turkey-Libya Memorandum as a direct threat to Israeli security. Senior Israeli defense officials told the paper that Turkey's strategy, which demands veto power over any infrastructure project in the area, is designed to block a potential natural gas pipeline from Israel through Cyprus and Greece to Europe, as well as undersea communications cables and power interconnects. With 98 percent of Israeli imports arriving by sea, officials say any shift in Eastern Mediterranean maritime routes is treated as a national security concern. The Turkey-Israel confrontation also spilled into last week's UN General Assembly, with both sides clashing publicly and in the margins of sessions. Israeli defense officials now view Turkey's m...