GSI, which has dominated both the background and the foreground, and its voyage off the coast of Kasos, which will determine whether the project will go ahead
The sequence of events leading up to the departure of the French research vessel “Abeille Marengo,” chartered by the construction company Nexans to complete the bathymetric and oceanographic surveys for the laying of the GSI cable. This was preceded by intense negotiations among Paris, Athens, – Ankara, with the Greek government placing great emphasis on resuming the surveys that were suspended off the coast of Kasos in 2024. With the ship now having reached the southeastern waters of Karpathos and Kasos, and Turkey having limited itself to ANTINAVTEX and radio messages, the situation is shifting toward the optimistic scenario that the Prime Minister’s Office had hoped for. However, for things to have reached this point, and for the vessel to proceed unimpeded—so far—in its search, it took a tangled cable that is now stretched taut, with warships at each end. A reflection of these events was what had taken place a little further south, along a similar route, of another research vessel, on another, separate mission, with similar parameters.
A formal communication made in Paris
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The verbal note sent by Paris to Ankara appears to be the Solomonic solution devised by the French to allow the GSI to proceed, while at the same time keeping both Athens and Ankara satisfied. On September 27, 2026, we wrote in “Alpha on Sunday,” that Turkey limiting itself to issuing an ANTINAVTEX in response to the NAVTEX from the Heraklion hydrographic station was the optimistic scenario that would allow the “Abeille Marengo” to complete its seabed surveys so that the GSI project could move forward. So far, the optimistic scenario Athens was banking on appears to be coming true, and despite the backlash over the diplomatic note sent to Ankara, reports indicate that the Prime Minister’s Office is satisfied.
Throughout this period, the Greek government has appeared confident that the project would move forward, initially with the continuation of surveys and subsequently with the construction and laying of the cable. This confidence stemmed from the way the “Kobi Ruegg” surveys unfolded. The research vessel, which also set sail from Heraklion on October 22 and arrived in Limassol this week, having completed its surveys for the laying of the fiber-optic cable that will connect Europe with Saudi Arabia. This project has identical parameters to the GSI project, as it passes through the continental shelf claimed by Turkey, and the maritime areas covered by the Turkey-Libya Memorandum of Understanding, following a similar route. To carry out its surveys, the Heraklion Hydrographic Station and the “Zeno” Search and Rescue Coordination Center “Zeno,” which are the authorities responsible for issuing NAVTEX messages in Greece and Cyprus for the Eastern Mediterranean region. Each agency issued the necessary NAVTEX messages, thereby restricting the areas through which the “Kobi Ruegg” ultimately sailed from, with Turkey limiting its response to ANTINAVTEX, without interfering with the research operations.
For the Prime Minister’s Office, the completion of the “Abeille Marengo’s” research without obstacles—with the Turkish ANTINAVTEX messages being the only “headache”—is considered the ideal scenario. This would mean that Athens is the country where the necessary NAVTEX was requested and issued, with Turkey’s customary response via ANTINAVTEX deemed incapable of producing any result. In short, this would maintain the status quo regarding the territorial claims, preventing Turkey from turning the issue into a tangible advantage in its efforts to nullify Greek jurisdiction in that specific maritime area.
The dispatch of a formal communication from Paris appears to be the key element ensuring the above. On the one hand, the French manufacturing company Nexans, in accordance with established practice, as the entity authorized to request the issuance of a NAVTEX, addressed its request to Athens and Nicosia, thereby acknowledging their jurisdiction. On the other hand, the fact that France addressed Turkey via a verbal note, informing it of the surveys, appears to satisfy Turkey’s request for coordination with it. According to assessments, the receipt of the verbal note appears to be the development that prompted Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to state that “everything is normal, everything is fine,” just a few hours after tensions rose due to the issuance of NAVTEX messages by Greece and Cyprus. This was preceded by contact between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, aimed at ensuring that Turkey’s reaction would be limited. Reports also mention behind-the-scenes U.S. involvement to ensure calm, while Macron, Mitsotakis, and Christodoulides.
A Tightrope
At the time of this writing, the “Abeille Marengo” was located southeast of Karpathos, in international waters and within the area claimed by Turkey under the Turkey-Libya memorandum. The French research vessel set sail from the port of Heraklion last Monday afternoon after numerous delays. The NAVTEX was issued by Heraklion on Friday, November 5, effective Saturday, November 6, the date on which Greek media reported that the vessel had informed the port authority of its intention to set sail for Kasos that day. With tensions running high, it was ultimately decided that the vessel would stand by to allow diplomatic procedures to be concluded before its departure, in order to give time for the situation to de-escalate.
The day after its departure, the French research vessel entered international waters. With reports from Istanbul indicating that Turkey did not want tensions to escalate, the Turkish Navy limited itself to sending a radio message to the “Abeille Marengo,” which, in fact, made no mention of Turkish authorization for the research. In accordance with standard commercial shipping practice, the research vessel merely acknowledged receipt of the message, and since then, radio silence has prevailed. As of Friday the 13th of the month, the vessel continued its surveys under the watchful eye of warships from both Greece and Turkey.
Ankara is currently limiting itself to issuing ANTINAVTEX messages in which it challenges the authority of the Heraklion Hydrographic Station to issue NAVTEX for the areas off Kasos and KArpathos, as well as the existence and consequent jurisdiction of the Republic of Cyprus to issue NAVTEX messages. While Athens may claim that there has been no contact with Ankara, however, it is considered almost certain that the smooth conduct of surveys and cable-laying operations for the interconnector with Cyprus could not have proceeded without at least some indirectsome form of coordination. On the one hand, the involvement of France and Washington appears to have been catalytic, while on the other hand revealing that the GSI project brings to the surface the rivalry between Athens and Ankara within the context of their broader claims in the Eastern Mediterranean.
