Ambassador: Amid Regional Conflicts, Cyprus Gains Relevance as U.S. Security Partner

The eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus is no stranger to territorial disputes and security challenges. 

The European Union member state has seen part of its landmass occupied by Turkish troops for 50 years, a stubborn stalemate that has so far defied all attempts at resolution. 

But now, amid a range of rising regional and global conflicts, the island’s status as a cultural crossroads in a tumultuous region has given it newfound currency in international relations, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. told Global Atlanta. 

Visiting Atlanta for a series of talks and engagements with the local Cypriot community, Evangelos Savva said his security-focused agenda in Washington had rapidly expanded after the Israel-Gaza war heated up last October. But it had already been steadily intensifying, he added. 

When the Global Atlanta interview took place in May, Cyprus — located 200 nautical miles from the coast of Syria and Lebanon — had just become a clearinghouse for sea-borne aid shipments into Gaza. 

Later dismantled, a U.S.-built floating pier for offloading humanitarian goods vetted in Cyprus became a temporary lifeline for Gazan civilians as Israel restricted aid crossings to tamp down illicit arms shipments.

The seemingly novel solution was one Cyprus had been posing since Israel imposed a naval blockade of Gaza in 2006 following Hamas’ ascent to power, the ambassador said. 

“It never really materialized for a variety of reasons, mostly because there were no hostilities, so any kind of supplies getting into Gaza were getting in through land crossings. But the plan was there all along. We had worked it out in our mind how it was going to be to be done,” Mr. Savva said.

That’s just one example Cyprus’ voice has been heard in a new way as it has solidified a Westward security stance while maintaining contact with various parties in the Middle East. 

“You have to understand that Cypriots — we’ve always been in contact with everybody in the region,” Mr. Savva said, remembering how during his childhood in the 1980s, the Larnaca airport was used for landings of planes diverted due to the Lebanese civil war. 

Similarly, in 2006, Cyprus became an evacuation route for 70,000 Americans, Canadians and Europeans leaving Lebanon as war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, solidifying the country’s status as a hub for so-called NEO operations (Non-combatant Evacuation Operations). 

Since then, with its footing in the European Union secured, the U.S. has started to see Cyprus as a key partner in the region, assisting with training, conducting naval exercises off its shores and jointly developing infrastructure.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Western troops and materiel have been deployed to Cyprus to enhance military readiness in the event that the conflict spreads regionally. 

All this represents Cyprus’ hard-won position of trust and relevance, especially in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine — and not just the full-scale invasion of 2022. 

Back in 2014, when Russia seized the Crimean peninsula, Cyprus became key to enacting sweeping punitive sanctions from Europe and the U.S. 

“You were having a sort of back-to-basics situation in Europe with how Russia deals with us, almost an effort to close ranks in a way and make sure that everybody was on the same page,” he said. 

It was a significant about-face for a country that in the post-Cold War 1990s faced the perception of being a tax haven for Russian oligarchs, who used creative accounting to dodge the prying eyes of the international banking system. 

Mr. Savva says Cyprus acknowledges that it was one of many places where Russians were making “problematic” transactions, but that this is a thing of the past thanks to collaboration with the U.S. and others.

“In the context of international organizations who monitor these type of things, Cyprus is effectively off the (list of) danger areas; it just no longer happens,” Mr. Savva said. 

50 Years Since Turkey’s Invasion

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine garnering widespread condemnation, Mr. Savva is using 2024 to revisit the so-called “Cyprus problem” in the U.S.

He urged local Cypriots to contact their legislators and news outlets, pointing out that 50 years have elapsed since Turkey unlawfully occupied the northern part of the country, a breakaway territory still only acknowledged internationally by Turkey. 

Turkey maintains that it sent troops in to protect ethnic Turks when a fragile that sought to unite Cyprus with Greece, where most southern Cypriots have ethnic origins.

Mr. Savva and others say this sounds a bit too much like Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s logic in Ukraine. 

“It’s a very similar situation. Russia basically invaded because it said, ‘I have a vital interest in my neighboring country, and I can’t afford for this country not be in my own sphere of influence.’ You can replace Russia with Turkey, and everything will sound similar.”

Turkey has gotten a “free pass” as a NATO ally, Mr. Savva asserted, but he is hopeful that will change.

“Now that we speak after 50 years, being a member of the European Union as well, countries are more ready now to acknowledge that what Turkey did was wrong and what Turkey continues to do is wrong and that definitely should not continue. But how do you (enforce) that? That’s the $1 million question.” 

Talks have been stalled since 2017, and while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has expressed openness to resuming them, he also inflamed tensions by visiting the Northern Cypriot city of Nicosia on the July 20 anniversary of its incursion and threatening to build a naval base.

Increasingly, Mr. Savva said, it has become clear that Turkey, despite being a NATO member while Cyprus is not, “does not share the same values” as the West when it comes to press freedom and democracy. 

Cyprus can’t replace Turkey as a security partner, but it does offer the U.S. and Europe “win-win” agenda on the security front — and a convenient location to project influence in the region. 

The U.S., Mr. Savva said, has supported trilateral security dialogues among Cyprus, Greece and each of Egypt, Jordan and Israel, as Cyprus has embraced its position as a neutral ground for competing regional interests. 

“We were always that sort of safe haven in the area, and that is the role that we always want to cultivate,” he said. 

While many Cypriots embrace their Greek heritage, the reality of geography means that they often look east instead of north. 

“I would say that the average Cypriot knows much better how it is to interact with Israeli or a Lebanese or an Egyptian than they know how to interact with somebody from Luxembourg or Portugal or Estonia. Even though we’re a European Union member state, we are firmly rooted in the Middle East.”

Boosting the Cyprus Economy 

That Cyprus has done so well in the past five decades in attracting international investment, Mr. Savva said, is a testament to its resiliency as the nation of 1.2 million “punches above its weight.”

“We didn’t cry in our beer” when invaded, Mr. Savva said. “The part that came to be under occupation was the most important from the point of view of economic activity on the island. We had a nascent tourist industry and a very thriving agricultural region. We exported a lot of fruit and a lot of other products to the U.K. an other parts of the world. We lost that overnight.”

That was on top of the loss of 3,000 lives, displacement of some 160,000 Greek Cypriots to the South and the forfeiture of more than a third of the island’s territory. 

“We’ve done well, and we will continue to do well, and we will continue to look forward and move forward. But we know we’re always cognizant that we need to solve this problem.”

When Cyprus gains praise from the U.S., the ambassador reminds his interlocutors that more could be done to influence Turkey.  

“Look, we’re always doing all these great things together. And you’re always telling me, ‘Well done, Cyprus, bravo, keep at it, we’re with you.’” I say you know what, if you really believe in that, you will need to realize that the true potential of this partnership, and what it can be for the region, will never really flourish to the fullest without a solution of the political problem.”

That said, Cyprus continues to court international companies with a strong professional services sector and a growing tech ecosystem partly influenced by Israeli blockchain companies setting up shop to access the attractive EU legal framework. 

Atlanta-based NCR Corp. where Friends of Cyprus USA President Panayiotis Michael works as a software engineer, has a presence on the island, an example of one of “thousands” of U.S. companies that may not be household names but nonetheless have international ambitions. 

“If a U.S. company wants to expand its operations in the Middle East, we are a very natural location.”

Part of that, of course, will depend on restoring regional stability, and that points to the self-interest that is driving some of Cyprus’ peacekeeping efforts. 

“What is happening for us is hugely problematic for the region. We cannot afford to be having this type of war afflicting the entire Middle East. If you want to take it from a purely selfish outlook, everything gets influenced when you have a war in the region, including tourism. People begin to say, you know, this area is not in the greatest shape right now, so let’s look for alternative destinations. So it’s incumbent for us to make sure that we do our part to keep some semblance of stability.” 

A reception was held for Mr. Savva at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum on May 16. His visit was coordinated by Polyxeni Potter, the country’s honorary consul in Georgia. (Contact her here). 

Other engagements included talks at Georgia State University, a briefing on 20 years in the EU with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech and a meeting at The Carter Center. 

As follow-ups to the visit, Mr. Savva is exploring the possibility of establishing a dialogue between Cypriot shipping agencies and the Port of Savannah as well as working with Emory to establish an annual Cyprus lecture series.