Christodoulides praises the ‘more than 10,000 Austrians’ who served in Unficyp

President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday praised the “more than 10,000 Austrians” who have served in the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) since its creation in 1964.

He was speaking on the arrival of Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker at the presidential palace, and thanked Stocker for “Austria’s principled stance on the Cyprus issue”.

Those Austrian nationals have formed part of the more than 150,000 women and men from 43 countries who have served in Unficyp, 187 of whom lost their lives in the line of duty.

The theme of Austria’s contribution to Unficyp also featured during the joint press conference he and Stocker held later on Friday, with Christodoulides pointing out that 16 of the 187 Unficyp peacekeepers who lost their lives were Austrian nationals.

“We always remember with respect and with emotion … the 16 Austrian peacekeepers who lost their lives serving here in Cyprus. At the same time, we do not forget that in 1974, during the Turkish invasion, Austria, as a non-permanent member of the UN security council, stood by Cyprus, supporting the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of our homeland,” he said.

He added that today, “Austria is a valuable and reliable partner within the European Union, with whom we share common beliefs and approaches in relation to the issues of concern for the EU and for the future of Europe”.

With this in mind, he spoke about the bilateral relationship between Cyprus and Austria, saying that relations “are already at a good level”, and that he and Stocker had “discussed ways to further strengthen them, particularly in areas such as security, tourism and culture, the economy, investment, and education”.

“In relation to security and taking into account that our countries are not members of Nato, Cyprus and Austria have a heightened interest in cooperating towards further developing our defence capabilities, as well as those of the EU, and through this reasoning, we discussed specific methods of cooperation,” he said.

He then turned his attention to tourism, and said a “significant trend of growth” has been recorded in recent years regarding tourism between the two countries, before making reference to the 69 Cypriot artefacts which were returned to the island from Austria last year after having been “illegally exported” from the island.

Additionally, he spoke about Cyprus’ forthcoming tenure of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency in the first half of next year, and said that he and Stocker had “exchanged views on the priorities of our presidency, as well as on issues of particular interest to both countries and to the Union”.

These issues, he said, included “migration, enlargement, competitiveness, and energy issues”, with the two countries’ positions on those matters “converging to a large extent”.

He closed his speech by making reference to Johannes Hahn, the Austrian diplomat who was in May appointed as the EU’s special envoy for the Cyprus problem.

“Mr Hahn, as you know, is Austrian, and we are pleased with the desire he expresses through concrete actions to play a decisive role in our effort to restart talks and achieve a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said.

On this matter, Stocker said Austria “is a supporter of Cyprus for its reunification”.

“We have been present here since 1964 as a peacekeeping force as a sign of solidarity,” he said, before going on to speak of “cooperation in more pleasant areas, such as the development of tourism”.

The majority of Stocker’s speech was focused on the matter of migration, with him saying that “both countries have faced migration problems” and that “I am glad that Cyprus has interesting models to present to us regarding returns, especially to Syria”.

Christodoulides also spoke on this matter later, saying that the EU has been “late in taking concrete decisions” on the matter of migration.

However, he said, “an important step in this direction is the migration pact, which will begin to be implemented while Cyprus holds the council’s rotating presidency in the first half of 2026”.

As such, he added, migration will be “one of the issues which will possibly be raised during the informal European Council meeting which will be held in Cyprus and which will involve the leaders of the region”.

“Migration is a European problem, and it needs European solutions. If there is no cooperation at the level of all member states, if the member states have different approaches, we will not be able to deal with this problem as a European Union,” he said.

Earlier, Stocker had written in a post on social media that he was “honoured to meet” Christodoulides, ahead of Cyprus taking over the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency next year.

“Cyprus can count on our full support for this important task in the first half of 2026. Our discussions also covered Cyprus’ key role in evacuation operations, Austria’s longstanding Unficyp operation in support of peace, and the many opportunities for closer economic cooperation – from tourism to renewable energy and digitalisation,” he said.

He added that his visit “underlined once again the close friendship and strong partnership between Cyprus and Austria, in the EU and beyond”.

“We are determined to deepen this cooperation further,” he said.

Stocker will then go to parliament and meet House president Annita Demetriou before Christodoulides will host a working lunch for him and his delegation, ahead of Stocker’s departure on Friday afternoon.