The Turkish reactions to the start of the Cyprus-Crete cable interconnection works in the framework of the Euro-Asia Interconnector are not going to go away
Turkish media in an article titled "They prepared a plan to invade the Mediterranean Sea with the EU directive", points out that the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus met on 20 December 2023 and accepted the "National Maritime Spatial Plan".
Along with the Plan prepared under the European Union (EU) directive, many maps and guidelines on the use of marine areas around Cyprus were published.
The "EU Marine Spatial Plan for Cyprus and the use of its maritime zones" is a set of guidelines and instructions for the use of Cyprus' maritime zones.
In the Plan, the boundaries of the marine jurisdictional areas of Southern Cyprus were defined as follows:
Cyprus' internal waters (up to the baseline) and territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles (as defined by UNCLOS) cover approximately 13,968 km².
The Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus (as defined by UNCLOS) is approximately 98,240 km².
The Republic of Cyprus has signed bilateral agreements with Egypt (2003), Lebanon (2007) and Israel (2010) for the delimitation of its Exclusive Economic Zone, based on the internationally accepted median line/maximum distance principle, in accordance with UNCLOS.
The statements of a Cypriot Government official
The Deputy Minister of Maritime Affairs, who is responsible for the preparation of the National Maritime Spatial Plan, also made statements and gave an update on the Plan. These were:
"The National Maritime Spatial Plan was approved by the Council of Ministers on 20 December 2023.
The Marine Spatial Plan determines the spatial and temporal distribution of activities in the waters of the Republic. Through the "Maritime Spatial Plan", the Republic aims to contribute to the sustainable development of the offshore energy sector, maritime transport, fisheries and aquaculture, marine and coastal tourism and raw materials extraction, as well as to the protection, conservation and improvement of the environment.
"The plan will enter into force immediately and all activities in the Republic's maritime waters must comply with it."
The EU's initiatives-movements
The Plan prepared by the Greek Cypriots came about as a result of a series of initiatives launched by the European Union to create an "Integrated Maritime Policy".
In this context, the Greek Cypriots published the Limassol Declaration in 2012, adopted the "Integrated Maritime Policy" at the Council of Ministers in 2014 and announced the "Policy Statement on Maritime Spatial Planning" in 2021.
In the Policy Statement, the objectives related to the Plan included issues such as "defending national security", "exploiting hydrocarbon deposits in the Cypriot EEZ", "laying electric cables and gas pipelines".
The process of preparation of the Plan by the Greek Cypriots was also financed by the European Regional Development Fund."
Turkey-Pseudo-state reactions
The Turks point out that "it was observed that the maritime areas included in the Plan violated the boundaries of the Turkish continental shelf and all the rights of the TRNC on the island.
There was also reaction from Turkey and the TRNC to the Greek Cypriot plan.
In the statement of Öncü Keçeli, Spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, "it was stated from the beginning that unilateral actions by the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus in areas of maritime jurisdiction will not be accepted and our country's practices in the field continue in this context."
Keçeli pointed out that the areas defined in the "Maritime Area Planning", which is based on the European Union (EU) directive and prepared by all member states, violate the rights of Turkey and the TRNC in their current state and said that Turkey's borders of the Turkish continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea have been defined since 2004.
He recalled that it was last registered at the United Nations in 2020.
Keçeli also said that the Greek side's attempt to take advantage of the EU's Marine Spatial Planning Directive is considered the latest link in the futile efforts.The statement noted:
"Turkey has legal rights and authorities in the west of the island of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots have legal rights in the areas around the island.
The illegal initiatives of the Greek Cypriot administration, which are ambitious, detached from reality and have no validity, are harming efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem.
The negative impact of maritime jurisdictions and related issues on the Cyprus settlement process should not be ignored.
"We expect the Greek Cypriot side to be encouraged to develop cooperation with the TRNC, accepting that a solution to the Cyprus problem can only be possible on the basis of the facts on the island, instead of trying to create a fait accompli in the region."
Pseudo-state's Foreign Minister: "We have equal rights to Cyprus' waters"
The statement by the TRNC Foreign Ministry said that the project in question is the latest example showing that the Greek Cypriot leadership continues to act with the mentality of the sole owner of Cyprus and recalled that there is also the Turkish Cypriot one.
Cypriots are equal owners of the waters around the island.
The statement stressed that the Greek Cypriot administration has no authority to take action on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people and the following statements were made:
"In addition to the so-called "National Maritime Spatial Plan" which the Greek Cypriot Administration declared ignoring the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people, it went to the extent of publishing a map that overlapped with the areas of maritime jurisdiction declared by the Republic of Turkey , in which the Turkish Cypriot people have no say and is invalid under international law , with no validity for us."
With its unilateral activities, it has shown once again that it prefers escalating tension rather than cooperation on the island and in the Eastern Mediterranean region, despite all our constructive appeals."
The statement noted that all necessary measures will be taken with determination to protect the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people.
Are we heading for a Turkish-Cypriot military crisis?
From the above we note the vehement annoyance of Turkey and the Pseudo-State by the commencement of the work on the cable electricity transmission connection from Cyprus to Crete and the preparation of the "Maritime Spatial Plan" of the Republic of Cyprus , as a result of a series of initiatives launched by the European Union for the creation of an "Integrated Maritime Policy".
In an earlier article we pointed out that both the US and the EU wish to see calm prevail in the SE Mediterranean and the Aegean, as they wish to "unlock" the transfer of electricity from Asia-Africa and natural gas from the SE Mediterranean (Cyprus-Israel) fields to the European continent, as well as to continue sending US military equipment via Alexandroupolis to Ukraine-Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
The "energy unlocking" of Cyprus, however, is being attempted by the EU/US without the delimitation of the Greek-Turkish, Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot EEZs, and without the Cyprus problem being resolved.
It is our assessment that the above moves are at the same time intended to speed up the process of resolving these very sensitive issues, so Turkey is invited to choose between the following options:
-To make an agreement with Cyprus on sharing its energy pie, without an earlier delimitation of its EEZ with Cyprus and without a resolution of the Cyprus problem.
-To provoke a military crisis
-to sit at the dialogue table in the framework of an International Forum for the resolution of the Cyprus problem, initially under the auspices of the UN and with the participation of the EU
Our assessment is that the approach between Turkey and Greece that is being attempted is based on energy in the South-Eastern Mediterranean, with the determination of the energy pie for each country preceding the delimitation of the EEZ-continental shelf of the two countries, according to the Turks (kazan-kazan).
Therefore, the precursor of the developments on the delimitation of the Greek-Turkish continental shelf - EEZ will be the developments on the Cyprus issue and the delimitation of the Cyprus-Turkish EEZ, which will depend to a very important extent on the sale of the F-16 BLOCK-70 by the US to Erdogan - we expect it to happen - and the improvement of US-Turkish relations.
Otherwise, we expect the Greek Navy to take on a role of providing discreet security for the project, although the US is already sending the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald Ford to Crete, just in case, which is expected to dock at Souda on 26 December.
