Iskele, Cyprus: no other cable lands within 50 km.
Samandag, Turkey: no other cable lands within 50 km.
On an island this means losing the submarine link; on the mainland traffic can still go over land.
No alerts from our monitoring on this cable in the last 180 days. Events feed →
Counted: other international cables landing in the same country (domestic cables between points of one country are not a way out), other cables at landing points within 50 km, and whether the country has land links. Not counted: cable capacity, operator contracts and satellite. Use as a first look at dependence, not as a statement of what would happen.
Live Performance
420
measurements
10
probes
227
days monitored
133.1
ms avg RTT
0
anomalies
Monitored from 2026-03-06 through 2026-10-20 - live ICMP round-trip time measurements via our monitoring probes. All values below are recomputed daily from raw probe data. ✓ No anomalies detected in the monitored period.
Measurement sources
Probe
Location
Samples
Avg
Min-Max
Last seen
#53091
control probe
144
80.4 ms
22.5-120.5
2026-10-20
#6427 own probe
Sydney AU
79
285.3 ms
275.1-384.0
2026-10-15
own probe
Jerusalem IL
76
109.3 ms
104.1-113.8
2026-09-09
own probe
Sevastopol UA
39
128.2 ms
120.2-132.1
2026-06-03
#55237
control probe
36
114.3 ms
89.5-163.1
2026-10-15
own probe
Balancer IL
26
92.7 ms
89.5-104.4
2026-10-15
#1014583
control probe
9
93.5 ms
85.5-123.1
2026-09-02
#583
control probe
7
100.8 ms
87.3-135.9
2026-08-11
own probe
DVM IL
3
99.3 ms
99.1-99.7
2026-10-15
#746
control probe
1
84.9 ms
84.9-84.9
2026-08-03
About the Turcyos-2 Cable System
Turcyos-2: A regional submarine cable connecting Turkey and Cyprus
Turcyos-2 is a submarine telecommunications cable owned by Turk Telekom, linking Iskele in Cyprus to Samandag in Turkey. Spanning a distance of 213 kilometers, the cable has been listed as in service since 2011, according to GeoCables records. This system is part of the Turcyos family, which also includes Turcyos-1, suggesting a continuity in Turk Telekom's efforts to enhance connectivity between these two regions.
What sets Turcyos-2 apart is the limited public disclosure regarding its technical specifications, such as design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, and technology used. This lack of transparency makes it challenging to fully assess its capabilities or compare it to other regional systems. Additionally, latency measurements from live internet probes reveal significant differences between theoretical and real-world performance, underscoring the complexity of interpreting submarine cable latency.
Turcyos-2 connects Iskele, located in the northeastern part of Cyprus, to Samandag, a coastal town in southern Turkey near the Mediterranean Sea. The corridor spans the eastern Mediterranean basin, a region of strategic importance for telecommunications due to its proximity to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The cable's route is relatively short compared to transoceanic systems, reflecting its regional focus.
Why it was built and what it carries
Turcyos-2 was likely built to enhance direct connectivity between Turkey and Cyprus, supporting both countries' growing demand for international bandwidth and reliable internet services. Its role may include facilitating data exchange for businesses, government agencies, and consumers, as well as improving redundancy for existing systems in the region. However, without publicly disclosed design capacity or fiber pair information, it is difficult to ascertain the full scope of its traffic-handling capabilities.
History: what can be established
GeoCables records indicate that Turcyos-2 became ready for service in 2011. No conflicting dates have been identified in publicly available industry sources, lending credibility to this timeline. The cable's ownership by Turk Telekom aligns with the company's broader strategy of expanding its infrastructure in the eastern Mediterranean. Its inclusion in the Turcyos family suggests continuity with Turcyos-1, although the specifics of their interrelation are not documented.
Capacity and technology
The design capacity, fiber pair count, and supplier for Turcyos-2 have not been disclosed in public sources, making it impossible to definitively evaluate its technological capabilities. Industry-standard practices for cables of this length and regional focus typically involve a modest number of fiber pairs and capacities in the terabit-per-second range, but attributing these characteristics to Turcyos-2 without operator documentation would be speculative.
Latency: the physics
The theoretical one-way latency for light propagation over Turcyos-2's 213 km wet segment is approximately 1.0 milliseconds, with a round-trip time (RTT) floor of 2.1 milliseconds. However, live measurements from remote internet probes show significantly higher RTTs. For example, the measured RTT between Iskele and Samandag ranges from 22.5 ms to 115.6 ms, with an average of 85.6 ms. This discrepancy arises from additional latency introduced by land-based infrastructure, terminal equipment, and routing inefficiencies. Measurements from other locations, such as Jerusalem and Sydney, further highlight the complexity of real-world latency, which includes the entire internet path and not just the cable itself.
Redundancy: what happens if it breaks
If Turcyos-2 were to experience a fault, redundancy in the corridor would likely depend on Turcyos-1 or other regional systems. The repair process for submarine cables typically involves locating the fault using specialized survey equipment, deploying cable ships to retrieve the damaged section, and performing repairs either onboard or by splicing in new cable segments. Given the cable's relatively short length, repair times could be faster than for longer systems, though this depends on the availability of repair vessels and favorable weather conditions.
Bottom line
Turcyos-2 is a 213 km submarine cable connecting Iskele (Cyprus) and Samandag (Turkey).
Owned by Turk Telekom, it has been in service since 2011, according to GeoCables records.
Technical specifications such as design capacity and fiber pair count are not publicly disclosed.
Theoretical latency is 2.1 ms RTT for the wet segment, but live measurements show significantly higher values.
Redundancy for the corridor may rely on Turcyos-1 or other systems.