“Turkey’s NAVTEX is irrelevant – Greece and Cyprus were the only countries to receive a request for authorisation,” Athens has responded, according to sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following Turkey’s issuance of a NAVTEX for the Abeille Marengo. The vessel sailed on Tuesday afternoon to begin surveys for the laying of the Crete-Cyprus electricity interconnection cable.

According to a briefing by senior Foreign Ministry officials:

1. Greece and Cyprus are the only countries to which an application for permission to carry out the work was submitted, and both issued the relevant authorisations.
2. Immediately after the Greek NAVTEX was issued and made public, the vessel’s exact route became known to everyone.

In any case, the vessel sailed in accordance with the NAVTEX issued by the Greek authorities.

3. As for the Turkish NAVTEX, it is of no significance, since it was issued after the vessel had already set sail, on the basis of information that had already been made public.
4. Furthermore, the Turkish NAVTEX makes no mention of the granting of permission, because no such request was submitted to the Turkish side.

The Antalya station issued an illegal and irregular NAVTEX, in an attempt by Turkey to present itself as the authority granting permission for the vessel’s surveys, despite the fact that the application for authorisation was submitted only to Greece and Cyprus.

Following its usual practice, Turkey issued NAVTEX 1127/26, claiming that the surveys were being conducted with the consent of the Turkish authorities, in an area under Turkish jurisdiction and on the Turkish continental shelf, as notified to the United Nations in 2020. Greece is expected to issue a counter-NAVTEX, declaring the Turkish notice invalid and without effect.

It is noted that the coordinates listed in the Turkish NAVTEX are similar to those included in the Greek NAVTEX, which was issued on Friday, in what is seen as an attempt to create an impression.