Last updated in May 2009
German-Cypriot relations are close and friendly. Since the Republic of Cyprus gained its independence in 1960, the two countries have cooperated closely, and even more so since Cyprus’ accession to the EU in 2004.
Turkey’s 1974 military intervention in the north of the island effectively divided the country in two. The Federal Republic of Germany does not maintain official relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey) but has many different contacts with representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community at political and cultural level.
Political relations
There are close and good relations at government level between the Republic of Cyprus and Germany. These have been further intensified as a result of Cyprus’s key role in helping evacuate refugees during the war in Lebanon in summer 2006 and its subsequent and still ongoing hosting of the German UNIFIL MTF contingent in Limassol/Cyprus.
In January 2007, Bundestag President Dr. Lammert held talks with President Papadopoulos, Parliament Speaker Christofias and other Cypriot parliamentarians. In April 2008, Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier met with his Cypriot counterpart Kyprianou for talks in Berlin.
There is also lively exchange at parliamentary level.
Economic relations
Soon after Cyprus gained its independence, a trade and economic agreement was concluded between the two countries (1961), which was followed by an air traffic agreement (1967), an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation (1974) and an agreement on cross-border passenger and freight transport (1980). The bulk of these agreements became EU law in 1987 which, since Cyprus’ accession to the EU on 1 May 2004, now also applies in Cyprus. Only a few open issues remain to be resolved concerning the initialled amended version of the double taxation agreement.
In 2007 (no figures for 2008 are available), German foreign trade statistics recorded an export surplus for Germany of EUR 522.2 million (German exports to Cyprus totalling EUR 588.8 million and German imports from Cyprus EUR 66.6 million). In the tourist industry, an important sector for Cyprus, Germany still ranked fourth in 2008 (with 132,058 visitors) behind the United Kingdom (with 1.242 million visitors), Russia (181,000) and Greece (133,015). A break in this trend is evident for 2009, however, as a result of the global economic crisis: although the annual number of German visitors has fallen by a total of 50,000 since 2005, tourists from Germany (numbering 15,863 from January to April 2009) now make up the second-largest group, after Britons (84,526).
There is especially close cooperation between Cyprus and Germany in the shipping sector. Many German shipping companies and shipping management businesses are based in Limassol in Cyprus.
Cultural relations
Germany maintains close cultural relations to the two communities on the island. The Goethe Centre in Nicosia, a private cultural association, continues to run the language courses and programme of the Goethe Institute, which was closed in 1999. There is a cultural association for each community (the German-Cypriot Cultural Association in the South and the German-Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association in the North). Both cooperate closely with the Goethe Centre and the Embassy. Further German-Cypriot groups (German teachers and alumni associations) contribute to German cultural life on the island. A cultural agreement with the Republic of Cyprus was concluded in 1971.
German as a foreign language is less popular amongst the Greek Cypriots than it is in the North of the island. In the South, German only features, after English and French, as an optional subject (taken from the 11th grade on) alongside Russian in the foreign languages offered by schools and must increasingly compete with Italian and Spanish, which are constantly gaining ground.
In the Turkish-occupied North of the island, German can be chosen as the second foreign language, though there, too, interest in German as a foreign language has declined since pupils have been able to drop foreign languages in favour of other subjects.
Many Cypriots from the two communities have studied in Germany, often with scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and other foundations. Since May 1997, there has been a centre for Interdisciplinary Cypriot Studies at the University of Münster.
