Elam left the government out of its criticism of the new crossing points on Monday, the same day party leader Christos Christou openly set out the conditions for the party’s participation in power in 2028. The party responded to the agreement on two new crossing points with a statement titled “More concessions from us, while Turkey and Erdogan insist on two states”. The agreement was reached at the trilateral meeting with María Ángela Holguín, where President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman agreed on the simultaneous opening of crossing points from Louroudjina to Lymbia and from Kambos to Karavostasi. Such a response was not expected from a party that has consistently opposed every new crossing point. The statement neither apportions blame nor takes aim at the government, as the party has typically done whenever there have been developments on the crossing points. The text expresses “concerns” and “worries”, calls for the National Council to be convened as soon as possible and asks what substantive gain “our side” secured in return for the new concessions. It then urges “our side” to change strategy and impose a real cost on Turkey, and concludes by warning of the dangers of the process “into which we have been dragged”.
In 2020, when the Anastasiades government closed four crossing points as part of its pandemic measures, Elam described the decision as the result of “the intense pressure” it had exerted. It noted that Christou had raised the demand with the president himself at a meeting at the Presidential Palace, and in May of that year the party sent a letter to Nicos Anastasiades calling for the permanent closure of the crossing points. Under Christodoulides, in August 2025, following the arrests of Greek Cypriots in the north, the party repeated that closing the crossing points is its standing position and that Turkish provocations had exposed “the illusion of the open crossing points policy”.
The terms for the next government
On the same day, speaking to ANT1, Christou left open Elam’s participation in the government that will emerge from the 2028 presidential elections, on condition that it is agreed in advance which of its policies will be implemented. He ruled out Akel and the rest of the left, said dialogue was possible with everyone else and made clear that for Elam, ministries are “not a matter of exchange”. On the Cyprus problem, his barbs were once again directed elsewhere. “We will not accept instructions not only from Ms Holguín, but from anyone on this planet,” he said, referring to the possibility of being asked for concessions that would legitimise the faits accomplis of the invasion. Earlier in the day, on Alpha, he had argued that “our side” should have set as a condition that without the Tylliria crossing point no other would be accepted. On the same programme, he insisted that Elam had never declared its agreement with the government’s handling of the Cyprus problem and that it maintains the same stance it held towards the previous administration.
How the other parties responded
Diko said it supports President Christodoulides’ efforts, while Disy and Dipa welcomed the results but warned that confidence-building measures are no substitute for negotiations. Akel found the announcements fell short of the expectations raised in the preceding days, and Volt noted that it had taken a year and a half to deliver measures that should be considered self-evident. Alma recalled that in May the president had even spoken of a settlement plan before the end of the year and that he had not convened the National Council beforehand, while the Ecologists accused him of breaking his promise to open the Kokkina crossing point first.
A shared audience
According to a RAI Consultants poll for Alpha, 51% of Elam voters say they are satisfied with the president, a higher share than among Disy voters. Christou rejects claims of a special relationship with the Presidential Palace and challenges those making them to name Elam officials who have been appointed to semi-governmental organisations.
