Address by the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus, Dr Kyriacos Kouros, on the occasion of the Cypriot Armed Forces Day

Cyprus House
14 September 2025

Cyprus pays tribute to its Armed Forces Day every year on the 8^th of September, a date that coincides with the celebration of the Nativity of the Mother of God. We are a complex nation representing a number of ethnic groups, the majority identified as Greek Orthodox, with a peace-loving disposition, as depicted in the symbol we chose to commemorate our military capacities.

The Republic of Cyprus, despite being partially occupied for over half a century now, still stands on the right side of history. We stand by democracies against authoritarian regimes. Geographically and geopolitically located at a crossroads, we strive always to be part of the solution to major problems, working for the application of international humanitarian legality to the best of our capabilities.

In the framework of our strategic dialogue with the United Kingdom, I am very pleased to share that our relationship continues on an upward trend. Currently, we are in the process of, inter alia:

• Establishing a security policy dialogue between our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the FCDO (non-operational, with a focus on strategic planning).
• Working to upgrade the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation into a full-fledged agreement.
• Exploring the prospect of an agreement between Cyprus and the United Kingdom on maritime security.
• Intensifying collaboration and coordination on crisis management, building on lessons learned in the recent past.

We are proud of our relationship with the United Kingdom, with which we share history and traditional ties long before the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus.

We have a large diaspora here, and the UK has a notable presence of expatriates in Cyprus. British tourists remain our number one source market, and we trade and cooperate in almost all walks of life together.

Having said that, I cannot avoid speaking about the current state of world affairs, which affects us all. You know the cliché we diplomats often repeat in such cases: we live in interesting times. But I am old enough to remember that we have lived in interesting times ever since I can recall; and history used to teach us that crises of all sorts were the norm in our region and worldwide long before I joined the diplomatic corps, or even before I was born.

What is truly changing today is the danger of authoritarian regimes prevailing over Western-style democracies; and this could happen if we allow the corroding rules-based global order to collapse. I believe we have reached this stage because the national interests of mainly the strongest nations took precedence while international legality was repeatedly violated.

Cyprus is an example. We were invaded and remain occupied since 1974. Had such a situation been addressed with respect for what multilateralism was meant to defend, using the tools international legality provided, we might not have seen a similar invasion of Ukraine by a permanent member of the UN Security Council, nor the chaos unfolding in the wider Middle East.

Let the warning bells of our times sound loud and clear. If the rules-based global order collapses, humanity as a whole will take a great step backward in history. I say this because no one can claim that the current fluidity in international affairs indicates normal progress or movement in the right direction. Usually, chaos is not a catalyst for stability, peace and prosperity. Quite the opposite.