A Radio Message at Sea Becomes the Latest Test of Who Controls the Eastern Mediterranean

A Turkish warship trailing a French survey vessel off the Greek island of Karpathos broadcast a carefully worded radio message.

In Athens, that message is being read as quiet proof that Turkey never approved the work it now claims to have sanctioned.

The French-flagged Abeille Marengo is mapping the seabed for the Great Sea Interconnector. The European Union-backed power cable would link Cyprus to Greece and, through it, to the rest of Europe's grid.

This week the ship entered waters southeast of Karpathos that lie inside the maritime zone Greece has formally claimed.

Turkey says the same seabed belongs to its continental shelf.

The Turkish frigate TCG Gökova read a prepared statement asserting that claim and saying the ship had consent to continue its route, according to Greek reports.

The statement said nothing about permission for the survey itself. Greek officials argue that if Ankara had truly authorized the research, it would have said so.

The frigate also stopped short of formally hailing the ship, a more confrontational step that would require the crew to identify themselves and explain their work.

A Greek coastal station answered that the ship was on Greece's continental shelf and was working under a Greek maritime notice.

The exchange was restrained, but the stakes are high. Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies, have come close to armed confrontation over seabed rights in the past.

Now each side is using the cable to stake its claim to the same waters.

Ankara insists it gave consent, while Athens says Turkey's approval was neither sought nor needed.

The survey is expected to take four months, and every encounter between the ship and its escort will be read as a signal.

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