state visit
Overcoming division – Cyprus asks Steinmeier for help
Federal President Steinmeier visits Cyprus – 20 years after the country joined the European Union and 50 years after the island was divided. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The third largest Mediterranean island has been divided for 50 years, and numerous attempts at mediation by the UN have failed. But Cyprus wants to try again – Steinmeier welcomes the step.
The Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis is the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for help in efforts to overcome the division of the EU island republic. “Our message is that the solution lies in Ankara,” Christodoulidis said in statements after a meeting with Steinmeier in Nicosia. Germany is an EU member state that maintains excellent relations with Turkey, Chrystodoulidis added. Nicosia is the last divided capital in Europe.
“It is high time to work with new courage on a solution to the Cyprus question,” confirmed Steinmeier. Germany continues to support a bizonal, bicommunal solution to the Cyprus question based on the parameters of the United Nations. He is also pleased that the UN has appointed the former Foreign Minister of Colombia, María Angela Holguín Cuéllar, a new special envoy of the UN Secretary General to initiate the talks to overcome the division, which have been stagnating since 2017.
“In Germany, we are available to support the UN-led negotiation process and to promote confidence-building measures,” said Steinmeier. This is also shown by the cabinet decision last week that Germany would send German police officers to Cyprus for the first time to support the work of the UN.
Relatively high number of asylum applications
In addition to the Cyprus issue, the issue of migration was also on the agenda. In recent years, Cyprus has received the most asylum applications in the EU in terms of population size. Christodoulidis thanked Steinmeier for Germany accepting around 1,000 migrants from Cyprus last year.
The island of Cyprus has been de facto divided in two since 1974 following a Greek coup and Turkish military intervention. In the north there is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey. There is a Turkish army there. The government of the EU island republic in Nicosia controls the south of the island. The whole of Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 2004. However, as long as there is no reunification, EU law only applies in the south of the island.