Ioannis Tirkides

Cyprus’ modern history is defined by missed diplomatic opportunities, ideological blindness and the cold calculations of regional powers. Since 1974, the events leading to the island’s partition have been clouded ...

For nearly a decade since Crans-Montana, Greek Cypriot leaders have operated under the illusion of a risk-free status quo. However, UN envoy María Angela Holguin has shattered this complacency, ...

The narrative that presents Cyprus’ bid to join Schengen as merely ‘fulfilling EU obligations’ is a dangerous bureaucratic fantasy. In international politics, Nicosia’s push to bring government-controlled areas into ...

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), finalised at Versailles in June 2026 following mediation in Islamabad, marks a fundamental turning point in global affairs. While the agreement appears to halt a devastating ...

The geopolitical chessboard of the Eastern Mediterranean is a harsh, unforgiving arena where the survival of smaller states depends entirely on a cold, pragmatic calculation of the regional balance of ...

The June 2026 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Cyprus and France, and the 2024–2029 US–Cyprus Defence Roadmap, mark a radical departure from Nicosia’s historic military neutrality. While Cyprus hopes ...

Scheduled for a 2029 debut, the digital euro is designed to fundamentally redefine European finance as the digital twin of physical cash. Functioning as the third pillar of the European monetary ...

The global governance landscape in 2026 is increasingly defined by a “rule of law recession,” forcing a severe institutional reckoning within the Republic of Cyprus as well. While Cyprus maintains the ...

The 2026 Iran War marks a turning point in modern geopolitics and shows how the West’s attempts to maintain dominance through military intervention destabilise the region, hastening the rise of ...

In a previous article, we examined the concentration of power and erosion of democracy in Cyprus. This article advances that discussion, focusing on the 2025 Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence ...

The Republic of Cyprus is currently at a significant constitutional juncture. The legislative debate on amending Article 17 of the Constitution, which guarantees the secrecy of correspondence, for a new surveillance ...

The escalating conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran has transcended a localised military intervention to become a systemic disruption of the global order. International observers now reach a ...

A balance sheet analysis of the Cyprus economic experiment (2013–2026) Looking back from the vantage point of 2026, the official narrative surrounding the Cypriot economy’s post-crisis recovery is broadcast as a ...

In the wake of the March 2, 2026, drone strike on the British Sovereign Base at Akrotiri, President Nikos Christodoulides has moved to reorient the Republic of Cyprus’s grand strategy. His ...

As the conflict unfolds, it is becoming clearer that war with Iran will not be a quick, surgical operation as initially expected. Instead, it signifies a deeper struggle and a ...

The geopolitical landscape remains defined by unrelenting tension. Established norms are being challenged, and the traditional structures of international relations are in a state of visible decay. From the brazen ...

By Ioannis Tirkides The Cypriot tax system, which was designed almost a quarter of a century ago, in 2002, is facing problems of ageing. Although it was originally designed to be ...

By Ioannis Tirkides It is widely acknowledged by diplomatic observers and historians alike that the Conference on Cyprus held in Crans-Montana in July 2017 represented the high-water mark, the closest the ...

An automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or CoLA, is effectively a system of wage indexation designed to address inflation, yet there is no universal application nor a unified model for its implementation. ...

In a move that echoes one of the most perilous moments in its recent history, the Republic of Cyprus is acquiring the Barak MX, a sophisticated integrated air defense system ...

Despite the early optimism they generated, the meetings in Alaska and Washington in mid-August, achieved nothing of substance, except that in their aftermath we may be nearer to an escalation ...

The trade agreement between the EU and the United States was greeted as a humiliating event in European media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met President Trump at ...

Taxation is perhaps the ultimate political act in a democratic society. It’s not just about raising revenue and spending it; it’s also about the kind of society we ...

This year’s annual lecture in economics from the Cyprus Economic Society, featured Sir Paul Collier, a pre-eminent global development economist and professor of Economics and Public Policy at the ...