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President Nikos Christodoulides has given his first interview to a Turkish Cypriot media outlet since taking office, using the occasion to deliver a clear message across the divide: Greek Cypriots have no alternative plan, and Cyprus must be reunited.
Speaking to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Yenidüzen, Christodoulides said he believes he and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman have the chance to “write history.”
“If everything were in Mr. Erhurman’s hands and mine, we could reach a solution by next week,” he said, while acknowledging that the final decision does not depend on the two leaders alone.
The interview itself is significant. Rather than addressing Turkish Cypriots through official statements or comments made in the south, Christodoulides chose to speak directly to readers of one of the Turkish Cypriot community’s best-known newspapers.
His central message was equally direct.
“As Greek Cypriots, we do not have a Plan B,” he said. “The only possible solution is the reunification of Cyprus.”
He rejected partition and warned that the continued division prevents the island from reaching its full potential. If there is no settlement, he said, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will be the only ones who continue paying the price.
“Everyone says they want a solution,” Christodoulides said. “The negotiating table is where we will all be tested.”
He also acknowledged something politicians often prefer to say quietly: neither side will get everything it wants. Any agreement will require both communities to make concessions.
A different way to negotiate
Christodoulides said he has proposed discussing the six main parts of the Cyprus problem in pairs rather than tackling each one separately.
Territory could be negotiated alongside property, for example, while power-sharing could be discussed together with security and guarantees.
He said this approach worked during the 2017 talks at Crans-Montana and could help the two sides make progress by allowing movement in one area to unlock another.
The president said his main disagreement with Erhurman’s proposed negotiating method concerns the idea of penalties being agreed upon in advance if either side blocks the process.
He also made clear that he would not put a settlement plan before voters unless he personally supported it.
“I will take responsibility,” he said, adding that he would campaign openly in favor of any agreement submitted to a referendum.
For now, Christodoulides said the main unfinished issue is confidence-building measures, including the long-running discussion over new crossing points. UN envoy María Ángela Holguín is preparing a list of possible steps, while the UN secretary-general is seeking what the president called a “reasonable agreement” on crossings.
Turkey remains the key
Christodoulides said Turkey would agree to solve the Cyprus problem when it decides that a settlement offers more benefits than the current situation.
That is why Nicosia is following two paths at the same time: pushing for formal negotiations while also linking progress on Cyprus to Turkey’s relationship with the European Union.
“We cannot change geography,” he said. “We want good relations with Turkey, as we do with all our neighbors."
But he drew a hard line against any arrangement that would make the island’s division permanent.
He said he would not support confidence-building measures that slowly turn the existing separation into two states “living as good neighbors."
“I will never, ever accept that,” he said, describing partition as a disaster for both communities.
His message to Turkish Cypriots was that the two sides share a future in a reunited Cyprus inside the European Union. He described the EU as the strongest possible safeguard for Turkish Cypriot concerns.
For ordinary Cypriots, these are not distant diplomatic arguments. A settlement would affect property, crossings, security, trade, and where people can live or work.
The language is hopeful, particularly after years with little movement. The harder part comes next: turning words spoken across the divide into agreements that both sides are prepared to sign, and both communities are prepared to accept.
