President Nikos Christodoulides said he would invite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to informal EU meetings during Cyprus’s council presidency.
“We have changed our approach regarding the EU-Turkey relationship,” Christodoulides told the Financial Times. “We cannot change our geography. Turkey will always be a neighbour of Cyprus, so I prefer a neighbour that is close to the European Union”.
Cyprus takes over the rotating EU Council presidency in January, giving it the ability to steer discussions between member states. Christodoulides has floated the idea of inviting Erdoğan or Fidan to informal EU meetings during the term.
“This is about an EU presidency, not just a Cypriot presidency,” he said. “It would send a positive message about EU-Turkey relations”.
Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a coup backed by Greece’s military junta. The self-declared “turkish republic of northern cyprus” is recognised only by Ankara.
The Cypriot leader said peace talks with Turkey should resume following last month’s election of Tufan Erhürman as leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, which has rekindled hopes for progress in negotiations.
He said talks should continue from where they stopped at Crans-Montana in 2017, rather than starting from scratch. “We came so close… If we start from where we stopped, it is feasible,” Christodoulides said.
He welcomed the appointment of former EU commissioner Johannes Hahn as special envoy to restart the decades-long peace efforts. Brussels must “sit at the negotiating table,” he said, as only the EU can offer Ankara strong enough incentives to make a deal attractive.
He noted that the EU and Turkey need to take small steps to build trust. “We can start with visa liberalisation for Turkish businesspeople. And at the same time, Turkey opens a port for Cypriot-flagged ships. Since 1987, no Cypriot-flagged ship can approach Turkey. Step-by-step, so we can see the benefit of these positive developments”.
However, Christodoulides may face obstacles from counterparts, as some countries have opposed closer ties with Turkey in the past. “The [European] Commission may be prepared. I’m not sure if member states are or if they are hiding behind Cyprus,” he said.
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