Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides' comments signal break with the island’s policy of neutrality, and any NATO bid would be rejected by Turkey.
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Cyprus may seek NATO membership once its armed forces receive the necessary training and equipment with US support to bring them up to the military alliance's standards, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday.
The development signals a shift from Cyprus' long-standing policy of neutrality dating back to the Cold War, and follows Christodoulides' meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington last month.
While acknowledging that Cyprus cannot currently join NATO due to objections that Turkey would raise, Christodoulides emphasised the importance of upgrading the Cypriot National Guard’s defensive capabilities with US assistance.
"We don’t want the National Guard to lose such opportunities," he said, adding that Cyprus is in discussions with the US on the issue. "When everything is in its place, the Cyprus Republic can become a member state of NATO."
Turkey does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus's government — which is based in the Greek Cypriot southern part of the ethnically divided island — and maintains 35,000 troops in the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island.
Christodoulides did not specify how Turkish objections on Cyprus' potential NATO membership could be addressed, but pointed to ongoing UN-led efforts to resume peace talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Cyprus was partitioned in 1974, when Turkey invaded following a Greek-led coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Peace talks have been frozen since 2017.
Christodoulides highlighted Cyprus' strategic location as the closest EU member state to the Middle East, just 182 kilometres from Lebanon's capital Beirut, as a driving factor behind planned upgrades to its military infrastructure.
Talks with the US are underway to modernise Cyprus' Andreas Papandreou air base, which currently hosts US Marines and V-22 Osprey aircraft for potential evacuations from Lebanon. Discussions with the EU are also ongoing for upgrading a naval base, Christodoulides said.
"The strengthening of the Cyprus Republic’s deterrent capabilities is of the utmost importance," Christodoulides said. "We take advantage of every opportunity, both in the direction of the United States and NATO, but also the European Union."