Joining NATO “would be a natural development” for Cyprus, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, he said that “if Cyprus could apply tomorrow and receive a positive response from all member states, we would do it,” but admitted that due to the unresolved Cyprus problem, Turkey would currently veto Cyprus’ application to join NATO.

“For this reason, we are methodically working to strengthen our armed forces to bring them up to the level of other NATO members while we wait for the political conditions necessary for our accession to the organization to be fulfilled,” he said.

He added that Cyprus “already has a well-defined foreign policy with a strong orientation towards the West.”

The issue of Cyprus’ possible membership in NATO was raised last year after a meeting between Christodoulides and the then US President [Joe]. Байденом](https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/10/30/biden-i-remain-optimistic-about-the-possibility-of-cyprus-solution/ ) in the White House. The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported at the time that Christodoulides presented at this meeting a plan for Cyprus’ future membership in NATO.

After his visit to the White House, Christodoulides said that Cyprus is preparing to join NATO if and when Turkey withdraws its objections.

However, shortly after that, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that Cyprus’ membership in NATO would be “[неприемлемым](https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/11/28/cyprus-gearing-up-for-nato-membership-with-us-help-says-president/) and that “such an attempt would upset the delicate balance on the Cyprus problem and negatively affect the process of working on its solution.”

In addition to the issue of Cyprus joining NATO, the island is pursuing a shift in its defense policy towards the West. At the beginning of the year, the United States allowed Cyprus [to buy military equipment] (https://cyprus-mail.com/2025/01/15/cyprus-to-buy-arms-directly-from-us-govt ) directly from the government of the country after joining the three programs implemented by the US Department of Defense.

The country has been included in the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS), the Defense Surplus Items Program (EDA), and will receive resources in accordance with the U.S. Section 10 Security Assistance provisions.

In the fall, the National Guard adopted the Israeli air defense system [Barak MX](https://cyprus-mail.com/2025/09/18/turkey-monitoring-reports-cyprus-getting-israeli-defence-system ) — a surface-to—air missile designed to defend against aerial threats, including airplanes, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat aircraft, which strengthened the island’s position in the defense ecosystem. USA.

https://russiancyprus.news/news/society/joining-nato-would-be-a-natural-development-for-cyprus/