Exclusive — President of Cyprus: ‘Sky Is the Limit’ for Bilateral Relations with USA, Trump Has ‘Unique Advantage’ in Negotiations Because ‘You Know Where You Stand’ with POTUS

NEW YORK — President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides told Breitbart News exclusively on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that American President Donald Trump has a “unique advantage” in world affairs because, while he is bold, everyone knows where they are in his book, which helps him negotiate better than anyone.

“For me, President Trump has a unique advantage,” Christodoulides told Breitbart News during a nearly hourlong exclusive interview in late September here at the UNGA. “Either you like it or not, but you know where you stand. When you know where you stand, you can sit together, discuss, and even in the most challenging and difficult issues, find a solution. He proves that we may disagree, but if we sit together, we can find the solution.”

Christodoulides’s comments on Trump came during a broader part of the interview focused on how Cyprus just wrapped its rotating presidency of the European Union’s council earlier this year, and how he sought to bring Europe closer both with the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East but also with the United States. He argued that Europe does not “have the luxury” to not stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Trump and the United States, and that Western civilization needs the West actually unified.

Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, right, interviews President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (Office of the President of Cyprus)

“The number one highlight of our presidency was to bring the region closer to the European Union,” Christodoulides said. “It took a lot of time and effort in order to make my colleagues, the European Council, understand the importance of the greater Middle East, and we are very glad. Within this context, we also had an informal meeting in Cyprus with the 27 member states; the leaders of the 27 member states, and the presidents of the institutions with leaders of the region. The second one is the importance that we attach finally as a European Union on the issue of defense. We are spending through the SAFE instrument 150 billion euros in order to enhance the capabilities of the European Union and the member states. The third point, which is very very important for us, in certain issues, is we may have different approaches with the United States, but we don’t have the luxury in any way to have a transatlantic rift.”

Trump’s new ambassador to Cyprus, John Breslow, just took office earlier in September, and Christodoulides told Breitbart News he has hit the ground running there already.

“The new ambassador was in several places working last week,” Christodoulides said in the interview, conducted the week of the high-level UNGA gatherings in New York City in late September.

“The United States is our most important partner in trade, defense, and security in all sectors,” Christodoulides said. “As I told you, one of the reasons that the European Union actually today exists is because of the support of the United States back immediately after World War II, and we don’t have the luxury to have a transatlantic rift. We need to work together, and it was very important. I mentioned this before that finally, as a European, for a number of years, I remember when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs or before a government spokesman or diplomatic adviser of the former president, we were discussing about the need to enhance our defense capability. Discussion, discussion, just discussion, and very nice declarations, very nice conclusions. It’s the first time that we decided very, very specifically, to spend 150 billion euros in order to enhance our defense and security capabilities, and Cyprus will be benefited out of this instrument with 1.2 billion euros in order to enhance our defense capability. Besides that, we’re working very closely with the United States to upgrade our military infrastructure in Cyprus. It is one of the areas that we’re working very closely with the U.S. administration and all of the issues that we discussed with the new ambassador.”

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Christodoulides’s address to the UNGA included a particularly incisive response to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who used his address to make a number of references to international law and the United Nations charter. But Christodoulides argued that Erdogan’s handling of Cyprus, an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean, was hypocrisy of the highest order. Cyprus is currently and has been for decades an island divided, with Turkish Cypriots controlling the northern part and Greek Cypriots controlling the south even though every nation worldwide—except Turkey—recognizes the Greek Cypriots in the Republic of Cyprus as the territory’s legitimate government. It’s a perennial issue at the UNGA, and this year diplomats again spent the UNGA discussing it—but Christodoulides told Breitbart News the “great obstacle” in the way of a solution is Erdogan’s intransigence.

“Actually, they’re saying we have to solve the Cyprus problem by the UN Secretary General, with the support also of the European Union,” Christodoulides told Breitbart News. “You know, Cyprus is a member state of the European Union. We will continue to be following the solution of the Cyprus problem, and the great obstacle that we have is Mr. Erdogan—that he is insisting on a two-state solution, on a solution outside the UN framework, and I was there during his speech. It’s one of the few times that the Cypriot president is present when President Erdogan is speaking, and you know, politicians we are judged by our actions and not by what we are saying, and it was hypocrisy to listen to Mr. Erdogan talking about the UN Charter and international law about refugees. He presented himself as a protector of all people, that they are—of all the countries—that they are facing occupation and problems and challenges. I had to answer to him. I had to reply to him because, as I told you, what we see, actually, not only with Cyprus, we see a new Ottoman approach from Turkey to present itself as a protector of the Arab world, of the Muslim world, which is not the case. Even the Arab countries of the region, I don’t want to talk on behalf of them, but they don’t see Turkey as a protector. On the contrary, Turkey is questioning international law. Turkey has issues with all neighboring countries, and we have Mr. Erdogan coming to New York and presenting himself as the UN Secretary General that will protect the humanity.”

Christodoulides added in his interview with Breitbart News that every other nation in the region—he named several including Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, India, and also the United States, and others—are all working together, except Turkey, which is not.

“As I told you before, all of us, we are judged by what we are doing and not what we are saying. And in the region, we have a number of like-minded countries working together: Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE, India, the Greater Middle East—all of us—working together with the support of the United States,” Christodoulides said. “We’ll talk later about the United States, but we are very glad that we have the United States back in the region, because without the U.S. in the region, I’m very concerned that the vacuum will be created that will be filled by malign actors. We can discuss it later. So, all these countries of the region, like-minded countries—and the U.S.—are working together on a positive agenda. We’re not working against any country, and the only country that is not participating in this regional alliance is Turkey. Turkey is not participating because of its behavior, because of Mr. Erdogan’s actions, because of what they are doing, not respecting the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of their neighboring countries. So I couldn’t accept not to reply to Mr. Erdogan and what he was saying.”

Christodoulides, who told Breitbart News “I was there” for Trump’s address to the UNGA where the U.S. President discussed using hard American power to advance U.S. interests worldwide, said he has in his decades of work to build closer relations with the United States never seen his country as close as it is now with America.

“I joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a young diplomat in 1999,” Christodoulides said. “The only issue on our agenda with the United States was the Cyprus problem, nothing else. Today, I’m very glad that the United States is our closest ally; defense, security, intelligence. We are working very hard. We have U.S. investments in Cyprus on trade. The sky is the limit when it comes to our bilateral relations with the United States, and as I told you before, we’re very glad that we have the United States back in the region, especially with this administration, which fully understands the importance of the Middle East, of the greater Middle East, and we’re very glad that we’re working together. Energy is a very important sector that we can discuss later, but right now we’re at the highest ever point in our bilateral relations with the U.S. government.”

He said the reason why Cyprus and the United States, especially under Trump’s leadership here in America right now, are natural allies is because of deep common interests.

“It’s what I told you before: we are reliable, predictable partners of the United States in the region. We have common interests,” Christodoulides said. “We have common approaches. We need to work together, and we’re working together. The countries of the region—if I can talk on behalf of the countries of the region—we are very glad that we have the United States back in the region. For example, in the Middle East, it’s the first time that we have a specific plan—from President Trump—and we fully support his plan. We even put forward some ideas in order on how to implement this plan, and this is a clear indication of the interest of President Trump for our region. Imagine if we didn’t have a U.S. interest in our neighbors. Who and which actors would be going to fill the vacuum that will be created without the U.S. participation in the region? Malign actors. So it is very important that we have such an administration that fully understands the geopolitical importance of the region.”

One of the biggest places U.S.-Cyprus relations have seen a major boom as of late has been on the energy front. Chevron and ExxonMobil, two of America’s biggest energy companies, are both active in Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone seeking to help produce natural gas energy. Breitbart News previously sat down with Cyprus’s energy minister for a huge exclusive interview this summer on that topic, an interview that Trump shared on Truth Social.

Asked about this area of development between the two nations, Christodoulides told Breitbart News that with developments in the Middle East throwing the world’s energy supplies into chaos the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean as an alternative are all the more important for Europe and the world. He also said there are major energy announcements expected in early October in Cyprus that will even further deepen the ties.

“Especially having in mind the developments in the Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean is getting much more attention now from the energy point of view because the Eastern Mediterranean working together—Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, even Lebanon—the Eastern Mediterranean can be developed as an alternative energy route for Europe and we know the importance nowadays for the strategic autonomy of Europe especially on the issue of energy,” Christodoulides said. “Yes, we are very glad that we have two major giant U.S. energy companies in our exclusive economic zone. Actually, yesterday and the day before, I had a meeting both with Exxon and Chevron, and I will give you some exclusivity. By the first two weeks of October, we’re going to have a major announcement with regard to the presence of U.S. energy companies in our exclusive economic zone, and I’m very glad that because now we are at the level of exploitation, at the level of production, we signed an agreement with Egypt. We’re discussing with Israel and these two major companies, U.S. companies, first of all, of confidence for us, but also a clear indication of the importance of the region.”

The natural gas that Cyprus intends to get out from its waters will be not just for internal consumption but also for Europe and other partners.

“It’s for internal consumption, but also to export in Europe,” Christodoulides said. “Actually, we already signed the first agreement to export Cyprus gas in Europe by the end of 2027 or beginning of 2028. We’ll send the first Cyprus gas in Europe, but as I told you before you will see with the announcement that we are going to have in the first two weeks of October, that we are going to have more exploration in our exclusive economic zone by U.S. companies.”

Christodoulides also said that Cyprus being able to help power Europe and working to create more Western energy sources is extremely important as evidenced by the Russian war in Ukraine proving that depending on malign actors for energy is a pathway to calamity for the West.

“First of all, from the Cyprus point of view, as you know, our orientation is a clearly Western orientation, and there is no way for us to license any bloc in our exclusive economic zone to any companies that are against our clear foreign policy orientation,” he said. “At the same time, what is important, and that is what I mentioned before—especially for Europe—and we saw the consequences of being dependent on Russia on the issue of energy, the great prospects of the Eastern Mediterranean to be developed as an alternative energy route for Europe.”

Another major area of cooperation between the U.S. and Cyprus is on protecting Christian minorities in the Middle East. The last time Breitbart News spoke with Christodoulides was back during the transition between former President Joe Biden’s administration and Trump’s second term when he was appointing a special representative for religious freedom in the Middle East in the aftermath of the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Asked where that stands now, he told Breitbart News that the Christian minorities in many Arab nations in the Middle East are critical to “stability” and that he is working with the United States and Trump on this front.

“Indeed, I appointed a special representative and actually I sent the letter to President Trump informing him about this appointment and the need to work together with the United States and other countries in order to protect Christian minorities. Look, all the countries of the region, the Christian minorities in those countries, are the pillar of stability,” Christodoulides said. “Actually, the Christian minority is one of the main reasons that we have stability in the countries of the region. But still, we are facing a lot of challenges, especially in Syria, and that’s why—through the European Union but also at bilateral level—when we talk with the Syrians, we raise all the time they need to protect and respect the Christian minority in the country and to be inclusive. So still, there are a number of areas that we need to work together with the United States and some other countries in order to really protect the Christian minorities in the region. Without the Christian minorities in the region, and think of all countries because of all the countries of the region they have Christian minorities, how the situation will be today.”

Christodoulides added later in the interview that the “convergences” with the United States and Cyprus when it comes to cultural issues like protecting Christians but also on trade and energy as well as other other economic matters and most importantly on defense and security are endless. He also pointed to the hopes of movement on the idea of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or IMEC for short.

“First of all, let me tell you that two weeks ago I met with the president of Fiji. Then the president of Israel was in Cyprus,” Christodoulides said. “I met here with His Majesty the King of Jordan. I’m in close contact with, almost every week, with the president of Lebanon. We’re talking with UAE. So we’re working in order first of all to safeguard conditions of stability and security in our region, and take advantage of the great prospects of the region, and in order to achieve this, we need also the United States. There are so many convergences in our interest with the United States in the region, namely Christian minorities, security of Israel, stability in Lebanon or Jordan, and in Egypt. The prospects of IMEC having this huge market of India and connecting India with the Middle East and Europe, and there are a number of projects with U.S. companies, private sector, interestingly, especially on the issue of connectivity. So there are so many things that we can do in order to create conditions of stability and security in the region. At the same time, let me repeat myself: if we don’t work together, a vacuum will be created, and then we will have malign actors to fill this vacuum that is going to be against our interests, against the Western interests.”

He said he also met with Trump in person in Egypt at the Gaza peace summit that Trump headlined last year, and that he hopes to visit the White House soon.

“I had the chance to meet in person President Trump during the Gaza summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt,” he said. “I hope I will visit him in the White House soon. I want to close with what I mentioned when we started discussion because I really believe the sky is the limit when it comes to our cooperation with the United States. For us, the United States is the most important partner.”

One of the big developments in U.S.-Cyprus defense relations is that an arms embargo was lifted recently, and now the United States can sell weapons to Cyprus.

“Within this context, and our clear political will to spend much more on defense and security— and actually before coming to New York, we approved the budget of the government for 2027, and we have a huge increase on the defense ministry because we spend a lot in defense and security and we want to buy stuff—but if you want to buy stuff you have to have a strategy,” Christodoulides said. “In order to have a strategy, you cannot implement a strategy having this one-year limit so every year it has to go for renewal.”

He śaid the hope now is that the arms embargo lifting does not need annual sign-offs, but can be renewed every five years instead.

“Exactly, because it’s very important for our strategy,” he said, adding too that investments from American businesses more broadly than just defense into Cyprus are happening at historic rates right now.

“Another sector that is very important is we have U.S. investment in Cyprus probably for the first time in such an extent,” Christodoulides said. “Last year I was in the United States. I visited New York, Texas, and Silicon Valley. I’ll be back in the United States by the end of November to visit New York, Ohio, Boston, and Florida in order to attract more U.S. investment in Cyprus. The U.S. companies, by investing in Cyprus, it’s not just they invest in a country of almost 1 million people. They invest in Europe, in a market of 450 million people, and at the same time they have access—they use Cyprus as a gateway—to the greater Middle East.”