151 © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 S. N. Litsas, A. Tziampiris (eds.), The New Eastern Mediterranean, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90758-1_9 Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Small State Seeking for Status Revecca Pedi and Ilias Kouskouvelis Introduction In the beginning of the twenty-frst century, Cyprus’ accession to the European Union (EU) and the discovery of natural gas reserves in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) provided Cyprus with opportunities to enhance its status in the Eastern Mediterranean. Currently, various developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and a shift from a narrow foreign policy agenda—focused exclusively on the settlement of the “Cyprus question”—towards a broader one, added new impetus for the improve- ment of Cyprus’ placement in the region. In this chapter, we argue that Cyprus has employed a small state status seeking strategy with the aim of assuming an enhanced role as a leader and bridge builder in the Eastern Mediterranean. Our goal is to investigate Cyprus’ status seeking strategy, assess its effectiveness and discuss its potential impact on the region. To this end, we draw on studies that explore small state status seeking to provide the background for our research. Then we analyze Cyprus’ current status seeking strategy—as expressed primarily by its President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs—as well as the reactions to it, relying on speeches, statements, press releases, interviews and other news material. Our fndings indicate that the Republic of Cyprus is being recognized as a key player in the region, as a “good power” and a useful partner. We suggest that in the case of Cyprus status seeking is not an end in itself. Cyprus seeks to better its posi- tion and harness the gains from that improvement, especially with regard to the settlement of the “Cyprus question” and the exploitation of the Republic’s natural resources. In addition, we argue that Cyprus status seeking strategy has laid the foundations for changes in the Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, our study adds to research on the changing Eastern Mediterranean, to the literature on the international R. Pedi (*) · I. Kouskouvelis Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: rpedi@uom.gr; iliaskou@uom.edu.gr