Some work for the country. One wants the throne

Opinion Cyprus problemNikos Christodoulidespolitics Some work for the country. One wants the throne António Guterres Knows The Abcs Of The Eu Relevant News Some work for the country. One wants the throne 31 July 2026 Five Cypriot cyclists finish top 15 at Balkan Downhill Championships 31 July 2026 Cyprus’s diaspora: the force that never stops fighting 31 July 2026 Andreas Bimbishis 31 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber António Guterres’s visit to the island was no small thing, and it didn’t come out of nowhere, nor was it some polite farewell tour timed to his term running out. Consider this: the last time a UN Secretary-General made a comparable visit was January 2010. Once that sinks in, the weight of Guterres’s presence in Cyprus on 28 and 29 July becomes obvious. At the same time, everything that’s happened since March 2023 needs weighing up too: what Nicosia actually did, how the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish sides behaved, and how the Secretary-General himself approached the Cyprus problem throughout. What Guterres said while he was here can’t simply be waved through without being taken seriously. And nobody should pretend his statement was some throwaway, expected formality. Because any proper analysis has to weigh not just what was said, but what was written in the run-up to the trip even being announced, and the mood that was building the moment his visit became known. He kept the door open on a five-party conference. He referenced convergences. He talked parameters. He signalled the goal is covering that last mile. In short, the Secretary-General’s remarks tracked exactly the line Nicosia had been pushing the whole time. So what was Nicosia pushing for? A five-party meeting aimed at restarting talks, confirmation of the convergences already reached, preserving what’s already been achieved, and picking up exactly where things were interrupted. That is precisely what the Secretary-General addressed. The policy Nicosia has pursued throughout this period has produced results that go well beyond Guterres’s arrival on the island. Right now, the Greek Cypriot side is not the one standing in the way. On top of Guterres’s visit comes today’s presence of Raffaele Fitto, who will meet President Christodoulides this morning before going on to meet Tufan Erhurman. Nor was the EU’s involvement a given three years ago. It took very deliberate work from the Government to get the EU to the point of appointing a vice-president to work on the Cyprus problem specifically. All of this can be credited to the Christodoulides Government, which worked systematically to link the Cyprus problem to EU-Turkey relations. That link is now showing it wasn’t wasted time. Quite the opposite: it’s been delivering, and it’s still delivering. None of this progress fell out of the sky. It happened because some people are working in a specific, targeted way for their country. What’s sad, though, and what some people really ought to sit with, is that while all this was moving, others were busy with the 2028 presidential election. While Guterres was on the island, some were holding meetings to check their standing within their own party and plot their route back to power. And how much credibility can someone have when, on the one hand, they insist there’s real movement on Cyprus and the next election isn’t the priority, while on the other, they’re holding meetings about the ’28 race and running scenarios on how to become President? What society notices at moments like this isn’t who’s putting out the most press releases and photo-ops. It’s who’s actually working for the Cyprus problem. Society can tell the difference between those working for the country, and the one working for the throne… Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Five Cypriot cyclists finish top 15 at Balkan Downhill Championships Cyprus’s diaspora: the force that never stops fighting Hamas agrees to phased Gaza disarmament plan for first time MOL to acquire Shell’s Aphrodite gas field stake for up to $720m Wanted man, 67, arrested over alleged €9,800 solar panel scam in Paphos Central Bank sets reference interest rate at 11.32% Driver caught doing 177km/h on motorway, over alcohol limit and on drugs Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.