Cyprus: Political Developments and Data in 2024

Abstract The stalemate over the Cyprus question persisted in 2024. Apart from a single informal dinner between the two Cypriot leaders and the UN Secretary-General in New York, there was no meaningful dialogue—let alone any formal negotiations—despite the efforts of UN Envoy María Holguín, whose tenure ended in the summer of 2024. On the domestic front, within the Greek-Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus, the year was marked by the European Parliament election where a YouTuber—Fidias Panayiotou—became third behind the conservative Democratic Rally (25 per cent), which maintained its two Members of the European Parliament (MEPS), and the communist party the Progressive Party of Working People (22 per cent), which lost one of its two MEPs. In the northern part of the island, the de-facto state Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, 2024 witnessed a fake diploma and fraud scandal at a Turkish Cypriot university that reignited the debate on the problems in the Turkish Cypriot higher education sector. Internationally, Cyprus strengthened ties with the US via President Christodoulides’ White House visit.