Cyprus said on Friday that Turkey must abandon its push for a two-state settlement on the divided island if it wants to make progress on its decades-long effort to join the European Union.
Speaking after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said Ankara’s position on Cyprus remained a central obstacle to its stalled EU accession process. He also said Turkey should not gain access to the bloc’s defence fund, known as SAFE, noting that Ankara — while a NATO member — has no defence or security agreement with the EU.
Merz said Christodoulides had asked Germany to support efforts to break the diplomatic deadlock, citing Berlin’s close ties with Ankara.
“We discussed various options for how this could be achieved,” Merz told a joint news conference. “We discussed a very concrete proposal, which I received with interest, and that we could take a step in this direction during the Cypriot presidency. I expressed the German government’s readiness to actively participate in this process.”
Cyprus takes over the EU’s rotating presidency in January. The island and Turkey have no diplomatic relations and Ankara’s EU candidacy has been effectively frozen for years.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded the north after a brief Greek-backed coup. The island remains divided between an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government in the south and a Turkish Cypriot state in the north recognised only by Ankara.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that a two-state arrangement was the most realistic solution — a stance rejected by Greek Cypriots, who insist on reunification under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“If Mr. Erdogan insists on two states in Cyprus, certainly Turkey cannot get close to the EU,” Christodoulides said. “What is important is that the EU and the international community define a solution based on U.N. Security Council resolutions.”