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23 October 2026
141. The President of Cyprus: Iran, Israel, and the Cyprus Issue (Nikos Christodoulides)
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Leading
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30 June 2025
What role does Cyprus play in the Middle East conflicts? How can Europe and the United Kingdom strengthen their relations during this tumultuous time? How can governments fight corruption?
Rory and Alastair are joined by Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, to discuss all this and more.
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It is interesting to compare the Northern Ireland and Cyprus peace processes, why one was able to lead to agreement while the other has lingered. The key reason why Northern Ireland ‘succeeded’ and Cyprus ‘failed’ is the following, in my view:
In 1990, Peter Brooke, Northern Ireland secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, stated that Britain had ‘no selfish strategic or economic interest’ in Northern Ireland. It was therefore thrown onto the nationalist and loyalist communities to work out their differences and come to a power-sharing deal.
In Cyprus, these power-sharing arrangements between Greek and Turkish Cypriots have largely been agreed; but the sticking point to a comprehensive deal has been Turkey’s demands to retain a presence and influence on the island, indeed extend its influence from the occupied areas of the island to all areas of the island.
Thus, in 2008, former Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu was clear that Turkey sees Cyprus as part of its span of control: ‘Even if there was not one Muslim Turk there, Turkey had to maintain a Cyprus problem. No country can stay indifferent towards such an island, located in the heart of its very own vital space.’