DM Dendias Reaffirms Athens’ Support for Cyprus as Ankara Escalates Cable Dispute

“Greece is here and will remain here. Greece is and will remain close,” Dendias said during a visit to Cyprus for celebrations marking the 66th anniversary of the island republic’s independence. He was accompanied by the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, Gen. Dimitrios Houpis.

Dendias was received by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace, where he stressed that Greece would support Cyprus both through their historic ties and as members of the European Union.

“With the new capabilities we are creating in the Greek armed forces, we will always be beside you as brothers, but also within our common European family,” Dendias said.

His remarks came as Turkey renewed its opposition to the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection, demanding prior coordination and approval for work on the project. Turkey’s defense ministry said Thursday that it would “not permit” what it considers unauthorized activity in areas it claims as part of its continental shelf, citing a maritime deal with strife-plagued Libya and the Turkish Cypriot pseudo-state that Ankara created in the occupied parts of Cyprus in 1983. The Turkish side also cited what it called the coordinates it submitted to the United Nations in 2020.

The dispute centers on the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), a planned subsea electricity link that is intended to connect Greece, Cyprus and Israel and integrate the eastern Mediterranean electricity markets with the European transmission network. The project has acquired broader geopolitical significance as Athens and Nicosia seek to strengthen their energy links with Europe.

The project has also faced financial and regulatory hurdles, although its prospects improved this year following the entry of French investment group Meridiam as majority shareholder in the GSI company responsible for the Greece-Cyprus section. Talks between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron in September subsequently put the project back on an operational track.

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis has reiterated that notification of maritime survey activity does not constitute recognition of Turkish licensing authority, while stressing that Greece’s position is grounded in international law and the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Greece, other regional countries and the EU have expressed an opinion that the Turkey-Libya agreement of 2019 is baseless and illegal. The TC pseudo-state is recognized only by Ankara, the occupying power, and submission of whatever data to the UN does not constitution acknowledgment, let alone recognition and approval, official Greece has repeated.

Dendias used his remarks in Nicosia to link Cyprus’ security to Greece’s own military modernization program.

“Freedom, sovereignty, security and democracy require defense power. They require the capability of deterrence,” he said after the military parade, adding that Greece was developing that capability through its “Agenda 2030” defense reform program.

He stressed that the modernization effort was being pursued with “absolute commitment” to international law and the Law of the Sea.

Dendias also recalled the 1974 Turkish invasion and the continuing division of the island, describing the Republic of Cyprus as an independent, democratic, sovereign European state while stressing that it had endured the consequences of invasion and occupation for more than half a century.

Earlier on Thursday, he attended a memorial service and laid a wreath at the Imprisoned Graves cemetery in Nicosia, alongside Christodoulides. He also met Archbishop of Cyprus Georgios and representatives of displaced communities from the Turkish-occupied cities of Famagusta and Kyrenia.

Dendias said he would take back to Athens the “sense of unity, love and support” he had experienced in Cyprus.