“Southern Cyprus,” Erdogan’s Hide-and-Seek, and the Day After
When, at noon on Wednesday, Nikos Christodoulides took the podium at COP31, introduced as “His Excellency the President of Cyprus,” Nicosia achieved the goal it had set by traveling to Antalya. That goal was none other than to thwart any Turkish attempt to undermine the Republic of Cyprus in the eyes of the hundreds of participants at the UN Climate Conference.
The very fact that the President stood up to host Erdoğan, declaring “the Republic of Cyprus, a sovereign, equal, and independent member state of the United Nations […]” is considered a victory. First and foremost a diplomatic victory, full of powerful symbolism that Nikos Christodoulides adds to his arsenal ahead of 2028.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The kids are playing on all the fields
The Belated Invitation
The report in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet last Friday, that the invitation for Nikos Christodoulides to participate in the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference came from the Conference Secretariat and not from the Turkish President, is only half the truth.
Indeed, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had long since sent invitations to the leaders of EU member states—with the exception of Nikos Christodoulides— a fact that prompted an immediate response from Nicosia, which raised the issue before the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives.
Following representations by European institutions and capitals, in October, Cyprus finally secured an invitation to attend the conference in Antalya—not from the Turkish presidency, but from COP31 President Murat Kurum. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s protégé, who lost the 2024 Istanbul mayoral race to Ekrem İmamoğlu, has now become the “new sultan’s” Minister of the Environment.
A campaign of institutional degradation
Upon his arrival on Tuesday evening, the President of the Republic was greeted by two individuals. Aivo Orav, the EU Ambassador to Turkey of Estonian descent, and an ambassador from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Even at a low level, the Turkish diplomat’s presence there constituted, implicitly yet clearly, an acknowledgment of our statehood, despite Ankara’s claims that it is maintaining its diplomatic stance toward the Republic of Cyprus.
Turkey’s efforts to institutionally undermine the island’s only internationally recognized state entity had not ceased. For example, the signs reading “Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus” that were to be placed on the license plates of the vehicles transporting Nikos Christodoulides and the Cypriot delegation. This was prevented after Aivo Orav issued strict instructions to the organizers, stating that such a thing could not be accepted by the European Union. Ultimately, the signs that were posted read “Cyprus Delegation.”
This was followed by Erdogan’s crude attempt to hide when Nikos Christodoulides arrived at the conference venue for the customary welcome handshake. Just as the Turkish flag was being displayed on the screens, Tayyip Erdogan chose to step behind the screen, leaving Antonio Guterres alone to greet the Cypriot President. The scene came as no surprise in Nicosia, which characterized Erdogan’s move as “a sign of weakness and contempt for the United Nations.”
Finally, shortly before President Christodoulides was called to the podium to deliver his speech, the Turkish head of COP31, Murat Kurum, stepped down from his position so as not to address him, as protocol required, “His Excellency, the President of Cyprus.” At the start of Christodoulides’ speech, however, members of the Turkish delegation removed their simultaneous interpretation headsets, refusing to listen to his remarks.
The Next Day
The Turkish campaign to discredit the Republic of Cyprus before the hundreds of participants at COP31 failed.
So did the attempt to portray Tufan Erhurman as a head of state. The Turkish Cypriot leader may have been welcomed with great fanfare at Antalya Airport by government officials from Ankara, and he may have sat, as a guest of Erdoğan, in the front row at the conference’s opening ceremony. However, the international status of the “TRNC” has not changed.
Without a doubt, Nikos Christodoulides’ presence and participation at the UN Climate Change Conference is viewed positively, as even on Turkish soil, it was reaffirmed that the only internationally recognized state in the region is the Republic of Cyprus.
The situation, however, does not warrant any fanfare in the media. At a time when the Cyprus problem remains unresolved and the division seems to have become entrenched in the consciousness of a large part of society as the norm, the question that arises is: How long will we keep celebrating the fact that Christodoulides—and every Cypriot president, for that matter—stood up to the occupier and told him the obvious… How long will we feel vindicated because Erhurman—and every Erhurman—remains in the corner as the leader of an illegal entity?
In a world where everything is in flux, any failure in the efforts to return to the negotiating table leaves the country and society at the mercy of time and the facts on the ground.
