A Turkish drone has been flying surveillance over the planned route of the Great Sea Interconnector south of Karpathos, ...

A Turkish drone has been flying surveillance over the planned route of the Great Sea Interconnector south of Karpathos, as the French research vessel Abeille Marengo prepares to depart Heraklion to begin seabed surveys for the Greece-Cyprus electricity cable. Greek and Cypriot authorities jointly issued a Navtex maritime notice for the survey work on Friday. Ankara fired back within hours with a counter-Navtex, claiming parts of the designated area fall within its continental shelf and that it had not consented to the operations. Greek diplomatic sources made clear the vessel's work will proceed according to plan, stating that international maritime law is clear and does not allow for different interpretations. That message came as Turkish drones had already been active across the Aegean overnight, with ten UAVs operating in areas ranging from Evros all the way down to Kasos. The drone surveillance over the cable route is a direct escalation tied to the Navtex dispute. Turkey is treating the survey zone as contested territory despite the route falling within waters Greece and Cyprus consider unambiguously their own under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Great Sea Interconnector is a major infrastructure project designed to link Crete and Cyprus by undersea electricity cable. Cyprus has separately written to the UN secretary-general this week to report that Turkish research vessels, including the Oruc Reis, have been conducting unauthorized seabed surveys in Cypriot waters for a planned gas pipeline to the occupied north, calling the activity a violation of sovereignty and international law. Athens has not indicated any intention to halt or delay the Abeille Marengo mission despite the Turkish drone presence. #Greece #Cyprus #Aegean