UNITED NATIONS â Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan of “hypocritical and provocative” rhetoric over Gaza while warning that Ankara is trying to obstruct a major energy project linking Israel, Cyprus and Europe.
“Turkey has been making threats and has been acting on threats against Cyprus, especially in the exclusive economic zone,” Kombos told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Kombos pointed to the Great Sea Interconnector, a planned subsea electricity cable linking Israel to Cyprus and Cyprus to Greece, connecting the island to Europes power grid.
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“The main project of the electrical connection between Greece-Cyprus and then Cyprus-Israel has been blocked by Turkey because of illegal claims they have in terms of delimitation in the exclusive economic zone,” Kombos said.
The roughly â¬1.9 billion Great Sea Interconnector is designed to carry up to 1,000 megawatts across more than 1,200 kilometers of subsea cable. The EU has committed â¬657 million to the Cyprus-Crete section, which is intended to end Cyprus isolation from the European electricity system and eventually connect Israel more directly to the European market.
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The project has faced financial delays and geopolitical tensions tied to competing Greek and Turkish maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“The fact that we have someone challenging all the bases and all the norms of international law cannot be the answer to how we plan the future of our people,” Kombos said.
Those tensions also framed his sharp response to ErdoÄans speech at the U.N. General Assembly.
“We decided to stay in the room and hear Mr. Erdogans speech,” Kombos said, referring to himself and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. “And we are both, at the same time, thinking that this is hypocritical and provocative.”
Kombos said ErdoÄans appeals to the U.N. Charter stood in stark contrast to Turkeys record on the divided Mediterranean island.
“Its an ongoing violation, an act of aggression, of invasion, of occupation,” he said. “So its a very clear example of a distance between rhetoric and action, words and deeds.”
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ErdoÄan delivered a blistering attack on Israel during his Sept. 22 U.N. address, accusing the Israeli government of refusing to end its “occupation” and saying Gaza had become “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time.” He also accused Israel of having a “genocidal mindset.” Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a coup backed by Greeces then-military junta was followed by a Turkish military intervention that left the island split. The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus controls the south, while the northern third is administered by Turkish Cypriots with Turkeys support.
