President Nikos Christodoulides denied on Wednesday that he had referred to arbitration on the Cyprus problem, while reaffirming that a UN Secretary-General initiative is actively under way and that Cyprus is fully prepared to respond to it.
The clarification came a day after Christodoulides’s interview on Alpha TV, in which he spoke of the possibility of a settlement plan before the end of 2026 and of a green light from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for substantive discussions following a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Ankara.
Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the General Assembly of the Cyprus Chamber of Shipping in Limassol, Christodoulides was asked whether his comments amounted to a reference to arbitration. “I did not speak of any arbitration, nor did I refer to arbitration,” he said.
He said the UN Secretary-General “is absolutely committed to achieving progress on the Cyprus problem” and had been making relevant meetings. “I mentioned it from March, when he met me in Brussels. He conveyed to me that an initiative is under way — an initiative which aims to bring about a positive result. There is a window of opportunity from a UN Secretary-General who knows the Cyprus problem very well throughout its course, throughout his term. This term ends around the end of December and we support this effort that is under way and aims to bring results. It is not simply ‘we talk, we talk, we talk.’ At some point we must arrive at a result and we support this effort of the Secretary-General,” he said.
Asked whether the contacts were yielding something beyond the Secretary-General’s commitment, Christodoulides said: “All of us will be judged by the final result and what I can say with certainty from our side is that we are fully ready. We support and welcome what the Secretary-General is doing and we are fully ready to respond. For us there is no plan B, there is no alternative to arriving at the end of the occupation and the reunification of our homeland.”
On the question of whether the UN Security Council’s terms of reference bind the Secretary-General, Christodoulides said the Secretary-General “is more committed than all of us to the terms of reference given to him by the UN Security Council — the Security Council which speaks of a specific form of solution, as described in the resolutions. The same goes for the European Union, which has a decisive role to play in this effort.”
Turning briefly to the Chamber of Shipping, Christodoulides described shipping as one of “the most important sectors of the Cypriot economy” and said he welcomed the notable progress seen in recent years, including growth in the Cyprus ship registry and revenue for the state. “We are here to support this very important industry with new policies and new actions, which I will announce during my speech,” he said.
