Turcyos-2

Overview

Turcyos-2 is a short regional submarine cable spanning 213 km across the eastern Mediterranean, connecting Cyprus and Turkey. It serves the bilateral corridor between these two countries, providing a direct undersea link between the island of Cyprus and the Turkish mainland.

Route and Landings

In Cyprus, the cable lands at Iskele, located on the northeastern coast of the island. In Turkey, it comes ashore at Samandag, a coastal town in Hatay Province on the southeastern Turkish coastline.

Ownership and Operators

Turcyos-2 is wholly owned by Turk Telekom, Turkey's principal fixed-line telecommunications operator. Turk Telekom is the incumbent national carrier and a significant provider of broadband and international connectivity services in Turkey.

Status and Timeline

Turcyos-2 entered service in 2011 and has been operational for approximately 15 years. It connects the same two countries as the earlier MedNautilus Submarine System, which entered service in 2001, placing Turcyos-2 among the second generation of undersea links in this specific bilateral corridor.

Regional Context

The Cyprus–Turkey corridor hosts several submarine cables of varying scale and era. Turcyos-2, at 213 km, is a relatively short system and sits longer than only 8% of the other cables touching Cyprus and Turkey combined, reflecting its focused point-to-point character rather than a broader multi-country design. Cables such as PEACE Cable, Medusa Submarine Cable System, and Blue serve Cyprus as part of much longer international routes extending well beyond this corridor, while Hawk, also entering service in 2011, and the forthcoming Kardesa represent other regionally oriented systems. MedNautilus Submarine System predates Turcyos-2 and similarly spans both Cyprus and Turkey.

Measured performance over the last 60 days across 58 ping tests shows an average round-trip latency of 84.1 ms, with a best recorded result of 76.2 ms.

Strategic Role

Turcyos-2 provides a dedicated undersea path between Iskele in Cyprus and Samandag in Turkey, supporting direct connectivity across the narrow stretch of the eastern Mediterranean that separates the two countries. Its concentrated, two-point architecture means all traffic it carries passes between these specific coastal locations, giving it a distinct bilateral function within a corridor that is otherwise served predominantly by longer, multi-country cable systems.