Turkey and institutions aligned with the occupied part of Cyprus are conducting disinformation and propaganda campaigns within Cyprus, a Polish Embassy official said, according to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
The official spoke during a working lunch with journalists organised by the embassy on Wednesday in Nicosia, where she presented a study on misinformation and disinformation identified in Poland and Cyprus in recent years.
According to the presentation, Poland recently faced disinformation campaigns about a drone incident in its airspace and an explosion on a railway line, which were conducted through false reports on social media reaching huge audiences.
Referring to Cyprus, the official spoke of striking examples of anti-migrant content on social media and about migrants’ impact on Greek Orthodox culture.
She also referred to misinformation attempts on social media about the war in Ukraine, giving examples of the targets of sanctions, the reason for the war’s start, and issues concerning political support.
The official also spoke of Turkish propaganda. “Turkey and institutions aligned with the occupied side conduct disinformation and propaganda campaigns within Cyprus,” she said.
“They try to describe the Republic of Cyprus as a state which relies on external forces,” she added.
The goal, she noted, is to provoke fear and suspicion, weaken Cyprus’s position in the region, undermine trust within Cypriot society, influence international relations, create tensions with Arab or Islamic countries, and “recognise Turkey’s presence in the northern part of the island”.
She also cited a recent survey according to which over 70% of Cypriots get their news from social media, adding that this figure stands at 50% in Poland.
Impact on Cyprus issue if Russia allowed to prevail in Ukraine
Polish Ambassador to Nicosia Marek Szczepanowski expressed satisfaction that President Nikos Christodoulides “has shown strong support for Ukraine from the start”, something he often repeats, the ambassador noted.
He added there is a clear reason for this, which is that “if we allow Russia to prevail and subjugate Ukraine, the situation in Cyprus would become difficult because it would mean you can change the international order through an invasion”. If we accept such a scenario, he noted, then all other countries with similar situations would be at risk.
Achieving unity the biggest challenge for Cyprus EU presidency
Answering a question, the Polish ambassador said achieving unity will be the biggest challenge facing the Cyprus EU Council presidency.
He referred to problems the Polish presidency faced in taking difficult decisions concerning EU external security in relation to Russian sanctions, adding that the main objections came mainly from Hungary and partly from Slovakia.
During the lunch, Szczepanowski presented the Polish presidency’s achievements in the first half of 2025 and spoke about his country’s efforts to combat disinformation campaigns.
Poland, he said, established a team mandated to address such threats in recent years, adding that initially the team numbered five people and is now staffed by 75 people.
Referring to Poland’s priorities, he said his country focused on different aspects of security, including EU external security, within which the SAFE tool was adopted. An initiative, he noted, which had “very strong support from Cyprus”.
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