Pavlos Xanthoulis
On February 2-3, 2024, the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted an informal meeting of Foreign Ministers, known as the Gymnich, in Brussels. Although such informal councils are managed by the presiding country, and invitations are typically at its discretion, the Belgian hosts—who aimed to invite Turkey’s foreign minister—felt compelled to consult the Republic of Cyprus for its opinion. Nicosia responded by setting conditions for Turkey's invitation, which, as previously reported by "K" and confirmed by government sources, were related to both the Cyprus issue and Turkey's obligations to the EU.
Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kompos reportedly articulated these conditions with exceptional clarity. Nicosia also requested that these positions be conveyed to Ankara informally. However, neither the intermediaries strongly pressed these proposals to the Erdoğan government, nor did Turkey make any effort to discuss them to secure its presence at the Gymnich.
While Turkey failed to gain an invitation to the Gymnich meeting in February, it achieved its goal two months later with the help of President Christodoulides at the April summit. Initially, President Christodoulides had mandated that conditions be set for Turkey's participation in informal EU Foreign Ministers' meetings. Yet, he later endorsed conclusions at the highest European level, giving the green light to advance work on the Joint Borrell/Commission document. This document explicitly proposed Turkey's participation in informal meetings and included six additional benefits for Ankara across various pillars. In just two months, the president reversed his position, undermining both his own demands and the credibility of the Cypriot state within the EU. What is most perplexing is that Christodoulides celebrated this shift in April, along with journalists who echoed his statements, promoting the baseless claim that he had "successfully linked the Cyprus issue with Euro-Turkish relations."
This so-called "interconnection," which "K" extensively covered, recently produced its first tangible result. In simple terms, Nicosia abandoned its "constructive" proposals and conditions and agreed to Turkey's participation in the informal EU Foreign Affairs Council on August 29 in Brussels, without any preconditions. Cyprus' concerns regarding Turkey's obligations to the EU, and even the dialogue from where negotiations had left off, were completely disregarded.
This vacillation between two starkly different approaches—one aligned with the West and the other with the East—highlights an erratic political strategy. Just six months ago, the same government, under the same president, Nikos Christodoulides, had blocked Turkey's participation in the Gymnich, setting conditions that, as "K" reveals today, even related to Ankara's stance on the buffer zone issue. Now, after the celebratory rhetoric from Christodoulides and the alleged interconnection between Cyprus and Euro-Turkish relations, Nicosia has abandoned its own conditions and language.
As "K" wrote then and reiterates today, this is only the beginning. Efforts are already underway to unfreeze all high-level EU-Turkey dialogues, convene an EU-Turkey Association Council, fully reactivate the European Investment Bank for new infrastructure projects in Turkey, and provide facilities for issuing European visas—all without any link to the Cyprus issue. More difficult issues, such as a comprehensive air agreement and an upgrade of the EU-Turkey Customs Union, will follow. Given the ease with which the Cypriot president shifts his stance, Nicosia's position on these matters is increasingly marginal and directionless.
[This article was translated from its Greek original]
