‘Neither we nor the Turkish Cypriots loved the Republic of Cyprus in 1960’
President Nikos Christodoulides on Sunday said that neither the Greek Cypriots nor the Turkish Cypriots “loved” the Republic of Cyprus when it was first established in 1960.
Speaking to newspaper Kathimerini, he said there was “no honesty” in the period surrounding the founding of the Republic and lamented “missed opportunities” to resolve the Cyprus problem.
“The biggest missed opportunity was the Republic of Cyprus itself. Neither we nor the Turkish Cypriots loved the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. We approached it, even at the highest level, as a transitional stage to achieve another goal,” he said.
He was keen not to be overly harsh on Cyprus’ historical leadership, however, noting that “mistakes were of course made, but today we can judge them with the luxury of 50 years’ worth of hindsight.”
“The biggest mistake of the Cypriot leadership was the lack of a clear goal and orientation. We started with Enosis, moved to independence, then worked for Enosis, then pursued the ultimate, which was independence,” he said.
He added, “we were discussing a federal model in Cyprus and today we ended up discussing it again. Instead, Turkey had clear goals which were served regardless of the country’s leadership.”
“Moreover, there has not been the required honesty between Athens and Nicosia in the past. The announcements of common views and common approaches were mainly for communications reasons.”
“Today, however, there is complete honesty between the Greek Prime Minister [Kyriakos Mitsotakis] and me. There are issues on which we have different approaches and different readings, but the honesty with which we discuss them helps us at the end of the day to come to common approaches,” he said.
Moving on to the issue of relations between Greece and Turkey, he said his government “encourages” the development of relations between the two countries, and that this in turn can aid in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, but remained steadfast that relations between the two countries must “pass through” Cyprus.
“I must note that there can be no full normalisation unless the Cyprus problem is resolved, but a positive climate between Athens and Ankara inevitably helps our own efforts at a resolution,” he said.
He added, “we rightly say in Cyprus that the ‘key’ to a solution lies in Ankara. Ankara refuses to talk directly with us, but the existence of dialogue and progress in discussions between Greece and Turkey will inevitably help the Cyprus problem as well.”
On the matter of the modern Cyprus problem, he said things are “much more difficult” as the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of the island approaches.
“New issues are emerging at the negotiating table and the current situation cannot under any circumstances be considered a solution to the Cyprus problem. The passage of time creates more faits accomplis and reduces the chances of a solution which would be acceptable to the Greek Cypriots,” he said.
He added, “this is why we are focused on one sole aim: the resumption of talks.”
“I believe that with a new approach and with a greater emphasis on the geopolitical dimension of the Cyprus problem, we can reach a solution which will be acceptable to everyone. The ‘key’ is to restart dialogue. If this happens, we can achieve a mutually acceptable solution for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” he said.