Christodoulides: ‘I Would Apply to NATO If I Knew They’d Say Yes’

The Huffpost Greece interview with Emi Livaniou and Terence Quick was taken in Limassol last week on the sidelines of the Maritime Cyprus 2025 conference and was uploaded on Wednesday. It covers the Great Sea Interconnector, US-Turkey relations and Nato accession.

Christodoulides said US President Donald Trump had told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he was violating Russian sanctions. “Indeed, he is,” Christodoulides pointed out.

“I can also convey the dislike of Europe for the fact that the European and international sanctions against Russia are being violated. This was said publicly by Mr Trump,” Christodoulides said, adding that Turkey gained nothing substantive from its talks in New York.

Christodoulides said Trump was vague regarding the F-35 fighter jets Turkey wanted, “so I don’t see how Turkey is winning”.

Referring to the Cyprus problem and his latest meeting in New York with the UN chief, he said things were not as far ahead as he would have liked.

“Are we where we want to be? No, we are not. But these first important steps give rise to hope. They leave a window open in this persistent effort to achieve the aim of resuming negotiations,” he added.

Referring to shipping, as the interview coincided with the maritime conference, Christodoulides said the Cyprus flag was very important, as was the Cyprus shipping registry, which helped the economy in many ways.

“One of the goals we have set is to develop all relevant services,” Christodoulides said, adding that he was satisfied with the results of the recent years.