Turning Cyprus from a problem into a solution

Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, is CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and host of the weekly podcast “World Review with Ivo Daalder.” He writes POLITICO’s Across the Pond column.

“You see Cyprus as a problem,” President Nikos Christodoulides told a group of American visitors over lunch the other week. “But that’s wrong. You need to see Cyprus as the solution.”

The Cypriot president is right. Americans have long seen Cyprus as a problem — mainly because it’s been a source of conflict between two key U.S. allies, Greece and Turkey, an island divided for 50 years. A quick glance at the U.S. State Department’s page on “US Relations with Cyprus” affirms this point, focusing on the Cyprus conflict immediately after its first sentence.

But the country — an EU member since 2004 — has far more to offer beyond being the unfortunate locus of Turkish regional ambitions.

Despite its division and the ongoing conflict, Cyprus is an island of stability in an increasingly turbulent part of the world, providing a platform for political, economic, humanitarian and military reach at Europe’s intersection with the Middle East.

The island’s value was underscored on Oct. 7, when Hamas’s brutal attacks on Israel brought the region to a boil. Cyprus was the closest possible location to plan for the potential evacuation of U.S. and other Western citizens from Israel, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region in case the war escalated — as many feared it would. The island nation also offered up its territory and waters to the U.S. military to prepare for that eventuality. (Britain also retains critical military facilities in its former colony.)

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre near Larnaca’s international airport. | Iakovos Hatzistavrou/AFP via Getty Images

Then, within days of Israel’s response in Gaza, President Christodoulides offered to open a humanitarian corridor into the besieged strip. Israel cautiously welcomed the offer and helped set up inspection facilities to ensure any aid shipped from the island couldn’t be used for military purposes by Hamas or other forces.

Initially, though, the international community— including the U.S., Europe and Arab nations — preferred using established routes from Egypt and Israel, so assistance could be delivered more quickly and efficiently. But that changed earlier this year, when the desperation inside Gaza increased the search for alternative means to get food and medicine to the 2 million people caught in this brutal war.

The result is a humanitarian corridor where goods inspected in Cyprus are now shipped to a makeshift pier in Gaza constructed by the U.S. Army and to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The goods are then transferred into Gaza without any additional inspections, with the U.S. and the French military coordinating the shipments from the island. The key now — as it has long been — is to ensure distribution to those most in need inside Palestinian territory.

Cyprus’s value in Gaza is but one illustration of a broader point. Since the economic crisis of 2012-2013, the country has become a source of much-needed economic stability and growth. It’s been working to clean up a notoriously corrupt banking system and is no longer the top destination for easy Russian money. The government in Nicosia has invited the FBI and U.S. Justice Department officials to help investigate money laundering and other criminal activities, opening its books, reforming its institutions and cooperating in FBI-instigated investigations — even of its own citizens.

Nicosia has also ended its long and cozy relationship with Moscow, taking a decisive turn toward the West — the U.S. in particular.

Though not a member of NATO — and given the all-but-certain Turkish veto the prospect of membership is bleak — Cyprus wants stronger security and military relations with Washington. And in recent years, the U.S. has begun to reciprocate. It signed a bilateral security cooperation statement in 2018, opened the Cypriot embassy to military attachés and lifted a long-standing arms embargo.

A geostrategic partnership with Nicosia could offer Washington many advantages. | Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images

But these are only small steps — the potential for real security cooperation is far greater.

Over the past eight months, the U.S. has learned of the island’s strategic value for military and humanitarian operations, and there’s now an opening to consider a deeper military and security partnership. Additionally, Cyprus is eager to modernize its military — something that would make it easier to agree to the repeated requests for the transfer of its large stock of Russia-made artillery, rockets and air defenses to Ukraine. However, access to the U.S. defense market is currently blocked, as the lifted arms embargo is only for a single year and subject to renewal.

Overall, a geostrategic partnership with Nicosia could offer Washington many advantages. It would build on the island’s strong relations with Israel, Egypt and Palestinians, helping work toward a longer-term resolution to the war in Gaza. It would offer a strong counter to attempts by Russia and China to extend their strategic influence into the eastern Mediterranean. It would strengthen energy ties with Greece, Israel and Egypt. And it could build trust between the U.S., the EU and NATO, even potentially convincing Ankara that after 50 years, the time has come to find an equitable diplomatic end to the conflict.

A strong U.S.-Cyprus partnership may well be the key to turning the Cyprus problem into the Cyprus solution.