Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis pushed back hard Tuesday against reports that the Greece-Cyprus electricity ...

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis pushed back hard Tuesday against reports that the Greece-Cyprus electricity cable would be rerouted to avoid Turkish maritime parks, calling those reports "completely disconnected from reality." Speaking on SKAI 100.3, he said the cable route has never passed through Turkish maritime parks and sits dozens of miles south of them, so there is no reason whatsoever to change it. Gerapetritis was direct on who calls the shots: Greece will issue the operating license for the project, not Turkey. The French-interest company contracted for the work will submit its application to the Greek government, which will proceed under international law. He added that NAVTEX notifications will inform all neighboring states and mariners for maritime safety purposes, but permits come from Athens alone. On Greece-Turkey relations, the minister said communication channels with Ankara have never been cut and defended the policy of structured dialogue, insisting that talking to Turkey does not mean making concessions. He acknowledged Ankara holds firm to its core positions, including the "Blue Homeland" doctrine, grey zones, and demilitarization demands, but said it would have been unrealistic to expect those to change just because dialogue began. Gerapetritis said Greece's international standing has "skyrocketed" over the past three years, pointing to deepened alliances with Israel, Arab states, the United States, the EU's core members, and the UN Security Council. He also reaffirmed that expanding territorial waters to 12 nautical miles remains in Greece's "quiver," noting this government already extended them in the Ionian after 50 years of inaction. On any multilateral Eastern Mediterranean conference involving coastal states, he set one firm condition: the Republic of Cyprus must participate. If Turkey refuses to accept Cyprus at the table, such a conference cannot happen. #Greece #Cyprus #EasternMediterranean