WE WILL MAKE HISTORY, BUT WITHOUT A DEADLINE
When Cyprus’s president stood before the Greek prime minister on the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion (16 months ago, already) and declared he was ready to make history—that in the coming months he might well take critical and bold decisions—it was obvious he expected to face a historic dilemma by late 2024 or early 2025 at the latest. In other words, the final settlement of the Cyprus problem. “The coming months will be critical. The coming months will be difficult. In the coming months we may well take critical and bold decisions. We are ready to make history and reunify our country,” the president had said.
In fact, Greece’s prime minister, encouraged, matched the president’s resolve by talking about “brave and bold decisions that need to be taken.”
Facing an Ersin Tatar who—with Ankara’s blessing—kept parroting “two states” and “separate sovereignty” at every turn, we did wonder where our president found the decisiveness to make history at breakneck speed before Father Christmas descended on the island from Caesarea. Who dares talk about making history within a few short months when confronting a Turkish side that showed not the slightest intention of even sitting down for talks? The only thing anyone could expect with Tatar in the occupied areas and Ankara repeating that it would accept nothing but a “two-state” solution was the whittling away of time with chatter about confidence-building measures and mutual accusations over who’s to blame for the impasse.
With the change in Turkish Cypriot leadership, even without the slightest process having started, a new atmosphere has emerged and some momentum has developed. And this is because the new Turkish Cypriot leader declares himself determined to enter a process for finding a swift solution on the basis of federation. That’s why he’s setting a precondition: negotiations with a defined timetable. No more talking and talking to no purpose, as in the past. No open-ended conversations, as Tufan Erhürman puts it, but with a defined timetable.
President Christodoulides hasn’t responded to Erhürman’s precondition. He’s not obliged to, after all. But his negotiator has responded—with his rambling statements on the radio stations he went on, generously. No to timetables, he says, but “steady steps forward.” The timetable, he said, is an “extremely sensitive issue” that “hasn’t worked productively in the past.”
So: We’ll make history, but slowly, slowly. Without a timetable. We said we’d make it in the coming months, but let’s not rush things—that doesn’t work productively. Especially now that Tatar’s gone and Erhürman’s arrived.
This article was first published on 18.11.2025