By Dr. Kyriakos A. Kenevezou
The story is not written by statements, but by attitudes. And in diplomacy, the attitude precedes the voice. Measure, self -restraint, discretion, all those silent traits of real policy are not demonstrated. They are cultivated, stabilized and eventually establishing roles.
Cyprus, a country with an open national issue, the Cyprus issue, that is, an ongoing military occupation of part of its territory and with multiple pending in the context of Turkey’s more general revisionist and aggressive strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean, does not have the luxury of self -sufficiency. Not because it has no potential. But because the real role is conquered – it is not stated.
The recent public position by the President of the Republic on “Iran’s request to convey messages to Israel”, regardless of intentions or interpretations, is already recorded as a communicative slip with serious impact on the image of the Republic of Cyprus. Not because there could never be such a request. We are not able to judge it with certainty but because the context, time, time and immediacy of publicity refer more to diplomatic narcissism than to political strategy.
It is not the job of a president to become an informal messenger and, much more, a “international messaging” manager through press interviews. Diplomacy works in strata: first shaped in the shadow rooms of the institutional channels, crystallizes into strategic cooperation schemes, and if it is ever required it is publicly highlighted when it serves national strategy, not political self -promotion.
The Iranian reaction, which publicly denied the claim, is not just a communication issue. It creates a gap of credibility that is solely burdened by the side that made the statement without sufficient junction. When a state explicitly and publicly denies such a reference, the responsibility for managing this opposition belongs primarily to the one who made public reference. The image of the country represented is exposed, and the doubt that is born cannot be restored by official representatives, but requires a clear public position by the President.
They are not the press representatives who have to manage such a crisis. Is the president himself from whom the deterioration derives to stand before the people and the international community and separate the real from the frivolous: Was there or not the request? Did Iran speak or was it a misunderstanding, or worse, an arbitrary over -diplomatic contact? Silence is not protection. Is a confirmation.
The issue becomes even more critical to consider that other foreign policy fronts, there is a mobility that could have a positive sign. The recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Monti to Cyprus, for example, is not negligible. It shows that some diplomatic efforts, either as a result of design or as a product of favorable juncture, are beginning to bear fruit.
And yet, despite these moves, the President seems to be unable to resist the tendency to the personal report, not to hold his desire to be placed in the center of every international narrative. And that’s where the whole is undermined. Because in such subtle balances, a light, untimely or untrue step is enough to cancel all the distance you had previously. And then, you have to walk it alone again, and with less reliability.
If Cyprus wishes to have a heavy speech in the international events, it must first guard its image. And her image is shaped by both direction and style. Because there can be no stable diplomatic displacement, when the consequence of the strategy such as the one that appears in the country’s stable western orientation in particular after the Russian invasion of Ukraine – is canceled on the altar of person -centered projection and temporary communication flash. Even significant achievements, such as the recent visit of the Prime Minister of India, are not organically integrated into an institutional narrative, but are at risk of being lost in the noise of fragmentary maneuvers.
In any case, diplomacy is not a scene. And leadership is not a role. It is aware of silence, a sense of measure and a commitment to the institutional depth. Not to be cheering. But to never have to apologize.