How will Erdogan react? Trump gives a tailwind to the mega-project in which Israel is a partner
After a long period of delays, the interconnector project to connect Israel's electricity grid to Cyprus and Greece — and from there to Europe — has received the support of the USA and France. It is still unclear how Turkey, which opposes the move, will react, and it seems that Greece, which has avoided confrontation until now, will no longer remain silent.
One of the greatest fears in any escalation with Iran is damage to critical infrastructure in general and energy assets in particular. In light of this, Israel has been working in recent years to promote the interconnector project to connect the electricity grid to Cyprus and Greece — and from there to Europe.
However, Turkey's opposition has led to delays until today, which prevented the actual development of the plan to lay electricity cables between the countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was launched in 2022. Recently, after a long period of delays, the project received significant support from two different sources: the USA and France.
The US Department of State expressed Washington's support for the project again last Monday. "The US supports energy security and cooperation in the Middle East, including through the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center," Washington stated. "The Trump administration remains committed to strengthening key energy partnerships that enhance international energy security and promote a more secure and prosperous future, with energy security for the US and its partners."
On Capitol Hill, American lawmakers have reached out to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US International Development Finance Corporation to support the interconnector.
The appeal occurred after the French infrastructure investment company Meridiam signed an agreement earlier this month, which made it the main shareholder in the interconnector development company. The entity that remains a strategic partner in the important project is the Greek electricity transmission company, ADMIE.
An ancient conflict
At the same time, the corporation leading the interconnector and ADMIE signed an agreement with the French cable manufacturer Nexans, intended to accelerate work on the project, starting with the completion of seabed surveys.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis strongly supports the interconnector, partly thanks to the energy security it will provide to Cyprus, the only country in the European Union not connected to the European electricity grid.
As part of the project, underwater electricity cables are intended to be laid for about 1,200 km from Crete to Cyprus, and from there to Israel.
If so many parties want it, why hasn't it been implemented until today? The answer is Turkey, which views the economic water boundaries in a completely different way than international law and the countries of the region. In Ankara's view, which is not a signatory to the Continental Shelf Convention and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Greek islands are a continuation of Anatolia. This is despite the fact that the prevailing thesis in the international community is that islands are independent land parts that are not connected to the large continent.
That is, every island has an independent continental shelf, following which it is entitled to territorial waters of 12 nautical miles. The density in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea led to a compromise, in which every island is entitled to about 6 nautical miles.
Alongside this, there is the issue of Cyprus. Following a Greek-nationalist military coup in Cyprus in 1974, Turkey invaded the island. That same action, which was supposedly intended to serve the Turkish minority in Cyprus, led to the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, a de facto state that only Turkey recognizes.
Because of that recognition, Ankara declares the right of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to economic waters. In these very days, Turkey is even laying a permanent gas pipeline from it to Northern Cyprus.
Dr. Hay Eitan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkey at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, explains that the Turkish goal in developing gas infrastructure is not only to increase dependence on it, but also to ensure long-term dependence.
"After they already laid a water pipeline between the countries, now comes the natural gas. In Ankara, they aspire that if there is a future agreement in Cyprus that will unite the sides on the island, then it will be required to deal with a guaranteed significant Turkish penetration in the Eastern Mediterranean," he explains in a conversation with Globes.
In contrast, the Erdogan regime denies Israel and Cyprus the energy security they need. Last April, Greece brought the Italian ship NG Worker to lay cables in the area of the islands of Kasos and Karpathos (between Rhodes and Crete). However, Turkey threatened that if the cables were indeed laid in the maritime area it perceives as its own, the cables would be cut. In order to prevent a war, Athens decided to refrain from the action.
The turn in the Greek approach
Unlike the period when Greece avoided confrontation, the government in Athens is now presenting a much more offensive line. As part of Ankara's puzzling steps, the Turks recently decided suddenly to declare the establishment of "marine reserves" in Greek areas, which they view as their own. The meaning on the ground is the prevention of Greek rights, whether these are fishing, security, or the deployment of infrastructure on the seabed.
Someone who clarified quickly that such a step would not be accepted with understanding is the Greek Foreign Minister, Georgios Gerapetritis. In an interview with the channel Open TV, he emphasized that the Turkish move in the Aegean Sea is illegal and unacceptable. According to him, Greece, which implements a passive diplomatic policy, belongs to the past. "Any attempt to harm our sovereign rights will be met with all the means at our disposal. Greece is prepared for any scenario, and if Turkey sends warships to the area, we will not refrain from responding," the Greek Foreign Minister threatened.
"Greece and Turkey are operating under constant rivalry, especially since they established the UN Law of the Sea," summarizes Dr. Yanarocak. "Turkey aspires to solve this with Athens in a bilateral way, while the Greeks are not interested in losing their upper hand in the regional issue as a result of the Law of the Sea."
No response was received from the Ministry of Energy.
