UNITED NATIONS — Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 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 Europe’s power grid.TRUMP'S AMBITIOUS ENERGY BET COULD BE A WINNING HAND AS THE WORLD BURNS MORE OIL, GAS THAN EVERCyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia, Cyprus, September 5, 2025.
(Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters)"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 €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 €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.TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENERGY VICTORIES ARE A HUGE REMINDER OF AMERICA'S DOMINANCETurkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Istanbul, Turkey October 28, 2023.
(Dilara Senkaya/Reuters)The project has faced financial delays and geopolitical tensions tied to competing Greek and Turkish maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean."The fact that...