In recent years, President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides has created high expectations regarding the Cyprus problem through various initiatives and public statements. He even went so far as to speak about a settlement plan before the end of 2026. He called on the European Union to appoint a special envoy and repeatedly sent the message to the international community that he was fully prepared for negotiations.
So what, in the end, has President Christodoulides managed to achieve?
The answer to that question was given by 26-year-old Fidias Panayiotou as he left a session of the National Council last week. The youngest political leader said that 111 months have passed since Crans-Montana without any substantive development that would permit the resumption of negotiations. Referring to Nikos Christodoulides, he said that he “may be the only President who failed to bring the Cyprus issue back to negotiations”.
It is worth opening a parenthesis here to note a sad reality.
Of all the political leaders, only Fidias Panayiotou dared to raise this issue publicly. Many of our fellow citizens may not realise it, but the young MEP adopted the most patriotic position, because it is half of our homeland that risks being lost through the hesitation and mistakes of successive Greek Cypriot leaderships.
We should not be hiding behind a 26-year-old political leader who, during the 2024 European elections, declared that he lacked knowledge on political issues and who, just two years later, is able through argument and reasoning to dismantle President Christodoulides' effort to convince the public that he is conducting a successful foreign policy.
Of course, many Greek Cypriots believe that Turkey is to blame for everything and live under the illusion that the Greek Cypriot side is doing everything it should. If anyone dares to disagree and highlight the shortcomings of the leadership, they are branded with various labels and accused of being pro-Turkish.
Even if that person happens to be a United Nations official.
What could Nikos Christodoulides have done in order not to become the only President of the Republic who failed to bring the Cyprus issue back to negotiations?
More importantly, what could he do to avoid becoming the President who delivers partition?
First of all, President Christodoulides should have responded from the very beginning to the four conditions put forward by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman, stressing that the Greek Cypriot side accepted all four points, provided that the Turkish Cypriot side accepted specific Greek Cypriot positions in the chapter concerning security and guarantees.
Had he done so, then the ball would have been returned to Mr Erhürman's court.
It matters where the ball is, because every time someone is exposed in the eyes of the international community. And today we are at the most critical point.
Of course, it is even more important that we stay ahead of developments and achieve something substantial before the end of Antonio Guterres' term as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Since the President himself admits that the current situation hurts our side the most, then what more have we done in order to initiate meaningful negotiations?
A person's determination to solve the Cyprus problem is judged by actions, not by words.
