"The unfortunate dual calamities hitting Turkey and Greece in the first half of 2023 in the forms of a devastating earthquake and horrendous train crash respectively, revived memories of the summer of 1999, when two major destructive earthquakes hit Istanbul and Athens. What ensued was a great period of rapprochement that lasted for nearly a decade and was characterized by shared feelings of camaraderie between the two peoples, an environment of calmness, mutual prosperity, and international cooperation, bilaterally and beyond."
“Energy could be a good platform for reconciliation in politically laden regions, like Cyprus and beyond, but unfortunately, it has become yet another chapter in the book of the conflict.”
Read the article here.
This book examines the foreign policy of the Republic of Cyprus, particularly since 2004—the year of its accession to the European Union and of the failed Annan Plan V of the United Nations which aimed to solve the decades-old Cyprus Problem. Scholarly work about the politics and foreign policy of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) has been almost entirely analyzed through the prism of the Cyprus Problem. This is not without justification since the Cyprus Problem is indeed central to the social, political, and economic life of Cyprus. However, Cyprus is located in a highly neuralgic area of historical and geopolitical importance that is, more often than not, characterized by rapid developments, instability, and insecurity. Therefore, the RoC's politics and foreign policy go well beyond the confines of the Cyprus Problem, or so they should. Although the subject of the book is not international by definition, the book touches upon many regional and international dimensions that render it relevant for anyone who wants to better understand not just Cyprus but also the broader region and its importance for regional and international actors.
Buy the book here
Over the past decade, Israel-Cyprus relations have improved dramatically. Jump-started by a shared concern over regional in/stability during the Arab Spring, a mutual desire to profit from discovery of large off-shore gas reserves in the Mediterranean, and the souring of Israel-Turkey relations, cooperation between the neighbors has rapidly become a major geopolitical reality in the Eastern Mediterranean. While others have discussed the emergence and nature of this new alignment, the present paper focuses on how viewed by the Israeli elites view the Israel-Cyprus relationship. Using media reports, parliamentary protocols, government statements, and other open-source materials, the paper examines how Israeli elites perceive the importance, nature and future of their strong relationship with the Republic of Cyprus.
See paper here
In the context of rapid developments in Turkey and its broader geopolitical environment over the past decade, this book examines and conceptualises Turkey’s changing foreign policy towards a more assertive and revisionist paradigm.
Recent discovery of hydrocarbon has exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, PRIO Cyprus Centre Researcher Zenonas Tziarras gives an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean, laying out its key players and its recent history, and sheds light on why hydrocarbons are consequential for a region that includes several Middle Eastern countries.
Introduction - Coordination: Kyriakos Pierides, Vice President of the Board of OPEK
TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED
The event takes place in the context of the project "Citizens Forum to Reform Europe"
See here
In this episode of The Conversation podcast, Dr. Zenonas Tziarras talks about Turkish foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean.
What objectives does Turkey have?
How and why is Turkish foreign policy revisionist?
What about the conflict and the presence of non-state actors in the region? And what do Turkish actions mean for other regional players?
In this talk for Deep Dive Politics Zenonas covers the international systemic drivers and individual state interests that led to the emergence of the new security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean. He specifically analyzes the impact of global power shifts on the regional level, Turkish foreign policy, and the factors that led to a closer cooperation among Eastern Mediterranean states. Lastly, the talk covers the prospects and challenges of regional integration.
Zenonas Tziarras comments on the new round of talks on the Cyprus Problem that are taking place in Geneva.
See here
Ομιλητές:
Χαράλαμπος Έλληνας, - Εμπειρογνώμονας σε θέματα υδρογονανθράκων, Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council
Χάρης Τζήμητρας, - Διευθυντής Κυπριακού Κέντρου Ερευνητικού Ινστιτούτου του Όσλο για την Ειρήνη (PRIO), Καθηγητής Διεθνούς Δικαίου
Η εκδήλωση πραγματοποιείται στο πλαίσιο του προγράμματος ΟΠΕΚ - "Φόρουμ Πολιτών για την Ευρώπη"
Varosha: Between Human Rights and Realpolitik
Last summer Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots opened up the ghost town of Varosha, a suburb of Famagusta, fenced off and uninhabited since the division of the island in 1974. In this podcast, Mete Hatay, Senior Research Consultant at the PRIO Cyprus Centre, provides interesting background information on the ghost town and discusses the political implications of the opening as well as ways forward.
In a recent article entitled "Energy and Sovereignty in the new Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean" published in the Oxford Energy Forum, PRIO Cyprus Centre researcher Zenonas Tziarras asks how much of the recent crises can really be attributed to hydrocarbons, given other underlying issues and a history of regional tensions. He argues that hydrocarbons can only have a positive impact on eastern Mediterranean dynamics if the regional states (first) manage to resolve their fundamental and sometime decades-old differences.
"Turkey’s adventures abroad are about more than hydrocarbons. They’re a bold and expensive attempt at geopolitical revisionism," writes Zenonas Tziarras and Jalel Harchaoui in an Argument article in Foreign Policy. Read the article here
Since the outbreak of the conflict almost 10 years ago, Syria has become a country of limited sovereignty. It is now de facto divided into a number of different zones controlled by external powers as well as by various internal (armed) non-state actors. This report examines the trajectory and dynamics of the Syrian peace process, with particular emphasis on the Syrian Sunni opposition and its important role in the conflict balance, the peace process and the post-war Syria.
So writes Harry Tzimitras in an opinion article entitled 'The Eastern Mediterranean Quagmire' in the International Politics and Society journal.
Nikos Christodoulides, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Cyprus, gave the inaugural lecture for the newly established PRIO Middle East
Centre on Wednesday 27 November.
Report - External Series
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
Report - External Series
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief
Book Chapter in The Foreign Policy of the Republic of Cyprus: Local, Regional and International Dimensions
Book Chapter in The Foreign Policy of the Republic of Cyprus: Local, Regional and International Dimensions
Re-imagining the Eastern Mediterranean Series: PCC Report
Monograph
Occasional Paper Series
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief
Journal Article in Oxford Energy Forum
Journal Article in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies
Journal Article in Journal of Refugee Studies
Report - External Series
Popular Article in Foreign Policy
Report - External Series
Report - External Series
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief