A cable ship laying a subsea cable in the Mediterranean has found itself in the middle of an international quibble.
Greek City Times and other local press report that Orange Marine’s CS Teliri was recently issued multiple disputing Navigational Telexes (Navtex) from Greek and Turkish authorities while laying a subsea fiber cable in the Mediterranean near Turkey (officially Türkiye).
Navtex is an international information service used to issue maritime warnings and other information. Transmissions are typically transmitted from local weather authorities, navies and coast guards, or national navigation authorities.
Turkish authorities claimed the Italian-flagged ship was operating in Turkish waters without permission, while Greek authorities claimed the ship was operating legally in Greek waters. Sailing south of Rhodes and east of Crete, the ship is laying cables for the Blue Med system. Turkish authorities claimed the ship was operating in an area of the "Turkish continental shelf."
Ekathimerini reported the Turkish Navy was “monitoring the movements” of the Teliri, with covettes the Bartin, and Bozcaada nearby. The Greek Navy in turn deployed the warship Grigoropoulos nearby.
The two countries – which have long had testy relations – dispute who has control of much of the waters in the area. Under the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from land and grant foreign ships innocent passage – but Turkey is not a signatory to UNCLOS. The two countries share a border, and several Greek islands are only a few miles from Turkish territory.
Greece is a signature to UNCLOS, and claims the water under the so-called Seville Map, while Turkey claims much of the territory under its Blue Homeland strategy. Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus (known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) isn’t recognized by the UN, creating more issues over claims around that island.
The Blue & Raman project was announced in 2020, with the latter part named after Indian Nobel Prize Laureate Venjata Raman, and represents $400m of investment. The cable will provide a different route through the Middle East than Egypt, which currently has a submarine cable stranglehold.
Set to run from Italy to Israel, Italy’s Sparkle, owned by telco TIM, is leading the Mediterranean portion of the project.
Laying of the Blue section (also known as BlueMed) began in 2023 with the main Tyrrhenian trunk from Genoa to Palermo in Italy and branches to Marseille and Bastia in France, Golfo Aranci in Sardinia, and Pomezia in Rome. It landed in Corsica in December and Chania, on the Greek island of Crete, in May. A landing on the Side side of Cyprus is planned, and it is also set to extend to Libya. The cable isn’t due to land in Turkey or Turkish-claimed Northern Cyrus.
Built in 1996, the Teliri has previously completed laying MedNautilus – a link between Greece and Turkey. Cable laying for the project began around 2010 and was completed in 2012. It is the only cable connecting Turkey directly to the Greek mainland (though the SeaMeWe-3 system connects Turkey to the Greek island of Crete).
