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Turkey protests Israel, Greece and Cyprus for undersea cable plans

A diplomatic note by Turkey claimed that the proposed undersea cable passes through its territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Boats on the Bosporus Straits near Istanbul, May 15, 2011. Credit: Adam Jones via Wikimedia Commons.
Boats on the Bosporus Straits near Istanbul, May 15, 2011. Credit: Adam Jones via Wikimedia Commons.

Turkey formally protested an agreement reached by Israel, Greece and Cyprus to build an undersea electricity cable connecting their power grids, reported Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Ankara sent a diplomatic note to the Greek and Israeli embassies, as well as to the Delegation of the European Union, stating that no action should be made with regards to the plan without getting Turkey’s permission, according to anonymous diplomatic sources quoted by the Turkish news agency.

Israel, Cyprus and Greece signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday in a project called the “Euro-Asia Interconnector.”

The note sent by Turkey claimed that the proposed undersea cable passes through its territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The three countries carried out a joint naval exercise last week, which comes amid tensions with Turkey over the control of energy resources in the Mediterranean. Turkey sent a gas survey ship into Greek and Cypriot waters last year that also raised concerns in the region.

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