Türkiye-Greece Crisis, Formula Searched for Great Sea Interconnector Project

The knot in the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) electrical cable project, which is planned to connect Greece, which is the source of tension in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece, to Israel via Southern Cyprus, is aimed to be resolved on October 26. Greece's Kathimerini newspaper wrote that Athens and Paris are very close to finding a formula with Türkiye that will prevent the crisis and allow the project to move forward again.

CONTROLLED UNCERTAINTY

According to the formula based on Greek government sources, French Nexans will try to solve the current crisis through "creative uncertainty". Accordingly, the company will inform Turkey in advance about the activities to be carried out on the seabed in the Eastern Mediterranean, taking into account Ankara's "prior coordination" requirement. According to the news, Ankara is expected to accept the information as 'permission', while the Greek-French side will argue that providing information to Turkey does not mean a request for approval. Thus, it is aimed to pave the way for the project without the parties stepping back from their positions.

WHAT WILL ANKARA RESPOND TO?

The article claimed that if this formula was applied, the project could move forward without requiring any party to explicitly step back from its legal position. However, it remains to be seen on the field whether the preparations made with Ankara to resolve the crisis will yield results.

DISAPPOINTMENT IN ATHENS

Athens, which gave important roles to French companies in the Eastern Mediterranean and purchased billions of euros of weapon systems from France, was disappointed when Paris deepened its cooperation with Turkey in the field of defense and signed the "Defense Cooperation Road Map". The Greek press commented on the Turkey-France rapprochement with the following expressions: "Is the Paris-Ankara defense agreement a betrayal for Greece?", "The Greek government is watching silently. Another heavy blow for Mitsotakis' foreign policy" and "frightening development". Athens also considered the strategic cooperation agreement signed between the French company SAFRAN and Baykar in May as a major security problem for itself.