It’s astonishing how quickly the world finds its moral compass when it wants to. Some causes, it seems, are destined for grand declarations at the U.N. and trending hashtags. Others, like the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), are politely left in the waiting room of international legitimacy, indefinitely, of course, but with a smile.
Recognition, after all, is a selective affair. Palestine finally made it onto some countries’ lists after decades of convenient blindness and a genocide! The TRNC, meanwhile, is still told to sit quietly until the “conditions are right,” as if justice were a seasonal fruit. Everyone remembers the 1960s bloodshed, but apparently only as a nostalgic anecdote, not as a warning.
The Greek Cypriot administration has turned this selective memory into an art form. While solemnly reciting the language of peace and law, it has spent years ignoring both. Human rights? EU law? Its own Constitution? Optional, apparently.
Meanwhile, the island has become less a Mediterranean haven and more a showroom for foreign hardware. American, French, Israeli and – why not – Indian warships sit off its shores, because nothing says “peaceful intentions” like a floating arms expo. The latter is a curious gesture, though not entirely surprising given Ankara’s vocal support for Pakistan on Kashmir. In geopolitics, nothing draws distant actors to the Mediterranean faster than a diplomatic jab halfway across Asia.
Arming itself to the teeth has become a hobby in the south. New weapon systems from Israel, rhetoric from Brussels and a healthy dose of historical grievance make for an excellent weekend project. As for Israel, its sudden fixation on the TRNC as a “security issue” is almost touching. One could mistake Tel Aviv’s recent statements for a form of geographic performance art: our security depends on land we don’t control, so we must maintain it. Their newspapers lead the chorus, the government joins in and somewhere, a strategist draws lines on a map.
Of course, they might want to recall that Turkish jets don’t wait for editorials to finish before flying. Ankara’s decision to upgrade the Turkish Cypriot Peace Force Command and expand troop numbers wasn’t exactly whispered. But then, self-awareness has rarely been a prerequisite for regional posturing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continues to deliver his monologues to increasingly empty rooms, as if the lack of applause were a mere technical glitch. He speaks of doing the “dirty work” against terrorism while wearing the blood of thousands like a badly hidden stain. Even Germany’s Christian Democrats are raising eyebrows now – when your most loyal historical allies start looking uncomfortable, perhaps the script needs revising. Against this backdrop, Israel’s Cyprus rhetoric isn’t just tone-deaf; it’s farcical.
Southern Cyprus, ever the diligent understudy, plays its role with enthusiasm. It distributes peace funds while hosting spies, lectures about law while bending it and smiles for photo ops with leaders it condemns behind closed doors. Its EU accession, constitutionally dubious as it was, remains the polite family secret no one at the Brussels dinner table wishes to mention.
And yet, in New York, the southern Cyprus leadership approached Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with all the theatrical sincerity of a repentant prodigal son. This, after years of aligning with Greece, flirting with Israel and briefly adopting Egypt. Now that Ankara and Cairo are holding joint naval exercises again, perhaps nostalgia has set in. Nothing accelerates regional friendships like Israel overplaying its hand.
The provocations continue, of course. Unauthorized activities in maritime zones, conveniently forgotten maps that once tried to squeeze Türkiye into a corner and endless lectures about international law from those who treat it as a menu. The EU, struggling with its own democratic identity crisis, is in no position to moralize. After all, this is a union whose Parliament can’t propose legislation but has infinite opinions about other people’s sovereignty.
On the ground, the contradictions are almost poetic. At the checkpoints, officials warn travelers that crossing north is “dangerous” – Türkiye’s territory, after all, so better to stay safe. Meanwhile, Greek Cypriots themselves cross the line for casinos and cheaper road trips, apparently unbothered by the peril. The EU runs offices in the north, diplomatically pretending not to recognize what it actively engages with. Reunification is the official dream; hypocrisy is the daily reality.
The TRNC today is more than a political question mark on a map. It is the last firm line against a regional script that has already played out in Ukraine, Libya, Palestine and Syria. The world may prefer its tidy fictions, but the whole Eastern Mediterranean is changing whether the West issues statements or not.
Recognition will come, eventually, grudgingly and probably after the usual chorus of “deep concern.” Until then, the TRNC remains the uncomfortable truth at the polite dinner party of international politics: everyone knows it’s there, and everyone pretends not to notice.
