in-cyprus 11 May 2025 - by Andreas Bimbishis
A significant European Parliament resolution freezing Turkey’s EU accession process has gone largely unnoticed in Cyprus, where political parties have been distracted by domestic issues, despite strong reactions in Turkey and the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus.
The European Parliament voted 367-74 with 188 abstentions to approve a report on Turkey’s EU accession progress for 2023-2024, which included strong language on Cyprus and criticised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s recent visit to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
While Turkish officials reacted angrily, in Nicosia political parties appeared more concerned with domestic issues related to ELAM (National Popular Front), resulting in the first substantial reaction against Erdogan’s visit passing almost unnoticed.
Spanish rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor expressed regret that “Turkey last year began talking about a two-state solution or a two-state framework outside the framework of the EU, the UN and the international scene.”
The resolution emphasised that Turkey’s geopolitical importance cannot offset democratic backsliding, calling EU accession criteria “non-negotiable” and noting the Turkish government “failed to address fundamental democratic deficiencies.”
Regarding Cyprus, the European Parliament called for “serious re-engagement and political will for peace negotiations under UN auspices” while welcoming informal talks held in March 2025 and new confidence-building measures.
The resolution firmly reaffirms that the only solution to the Cyprus problem is a fair, comprehensive, sustainable and democratic settlement within the agreed UN framework, based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with a single international legal personality, single sovereignty, single citizenship and political equality.
The document condemned Turkey’s illegal actions including Erdogan’s recent visit to occupied northern Cyprus, violations at the Green Line, actions in Varosha, violations of rights of both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots enclaved in the occupied areas, issues regarding Greek Cypriot properties in occupied territories, and obstacles to investigating missing persons from the 1974 invasion.
The Parliament also expressed regret over Turkey’s casus belli regarding Greek territorial waters and its continued violations of Greek and Cypriot sovereignty, including through its “Blue Homeland” doctrine. It called on Turkey to respect sovereign rights under EU and international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, while condemning the Turkey-Libya memorandum.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the resolution as unfounded, while behind the scenes, Turkey had worked to block amendments submitted by Cypriot MEP Loukas Fourlas. A verbal altercation reportedly occurred in the corridors of the European Parliament in Strasbourg between Turkish Ambassador Kaimakci and the Cypriot MEP, with the latter suggesting Turkey should allow Cypriots to live freely.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called the report “invalid and biased,” claiming it “ignores the will of the Turkish Cypriot people” and asserting the EU lost its impartiality on Cyprus after the island’s 2004 accession. “It is not realistic to expect EU institutions to display an attitude other than that of a representative of the Greek Cypriot leadership,” he stated.
The so-called “foreign ministry” of the occupation regime called on the EU to encourage the Greek Cypriot side to accept “sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people” for a fair and sustainable solution, rather than making “biased and untrue assessments.”
Both Ankara and the occupation regime defended Erdogan’s trip to occupied Cyprus, claiming relations between Turkey and the self-declared state are based on the mutual will of “two sovereign states” and that neither the EU nor the Republic of Cyprus has any say in these matters.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, speaking at a meeting in Warsaw that included his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, reminded candidate countries that “the European Union’s path has its rules” and said Cyprus’s upcoming EU Council presidency was ready to support those willing to follow this path.
During his intervention at the meeting, Kombos also emphasised the need for cooperation to address hybrid threats, stressing that an attack against one EU member state should be considered an attack against all EU countries. He pointed out that hybrid threats take many forms, including the use of religion and migration, and urged the EU not to hesitate in naming those behind such threats.
