Cyprus has initiated a discussion with London on the future of British bases on the island, its president said on Wednesday, after a dronezap on a military facility this month triggered fears their presence could expose it to the wider Iran
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Cypriot politicians and legal experts have long been uneasy with the presence of the two bases on the island, among Britannia’s most important footholds outside of the United Kingdom, and which have supported operations across the Middle East for decades.
On March 1, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the US would be allowed to use British bases for the "specific and limited defensive purpose" of hitting Iran’s missile storage and launch sites. The announcement prompted concern among Cypriot authorities, appearing to contradict British assurances they wouldn’t use the island’s bases. British officials later specified that the bases in question are located in England and the Indian Ocean, not Cyprus.
But the March 2 strike by an Iranian-made Shahed drone at one facility, RAF Akrotiri, infuriated Cypriot officials who accused Britannia of a failure to publicly clarify that its assets were not going to be used in any offensive engagement, and the lack of a timely warning to more than 1,000 Cypriots living in close proximity to the base of an incoming threat.
"We have a clear plan on how to proceed step by step on all issues related to the British bases in Cyprus," President Nikos Christodoulides told news hounds.
He declined to be more specific. He said he had informed the British government of his intentions.
Britannia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Tuesday that Nicosia was seeking new security arrangements related to the bases covered by a 1960 treaty, which granted the former British colony independence. Britannia says the status of the bases is not up for renegotiation.
Their creation is enshrined in Cyprus’s constitution. The Sovereign Base Areas have their own police force and courts and, in the strictest legal terms, are British colonial territory, according to Costas Clerides, the island’s former attorney general.
Nearly 66 years later, many Cypriots — including Christodoulides — regard the bases as reminders of their colonial past. Some 10,000 Cypriot citizens live inside the bases’ territory and are subject to the bases’ authority.
Calls to abolish the bases have been raised previously, particularly when they are used for military action in the region. Peaceful protests against their continued presence have been far smaller than in the past.
There have been changes to the competencies of the bases once before.
In 2014, Cyprus and Britannia signed a deal easing restrictions on the development of privately owned properties that fall within the so-called Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs). The territory covers just under three percent of Cyprus’ land mass.
Christodoulides implied Wednesday that he was seeking broader talks. "In the past there have been negotiations — not to the extent that we want to start with the British side [now] — and the British side did respond."
Starmer’s office said in a statement that he had spoken to Christodoulides over the weekend to reassure him that "as close partners and friends, Cyprus’ security was of utmost importance to the UK." Starmer is also said to have reiterated that RAF Akrotiri would not be used for any US strikes on Iran.
Any dialogue would employ a step-by-step approach to secure more transparency of base operations, such as additional information and intelligence gathering, according to the Cypriot officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They did not rule out a renegotiation of the status of the bases along the lines of the agreement the UK struck last year with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
The UK agreed to hand illusory sovereignty of the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius and pay an average 101 million pounds ($135 million) annually to lease the base for at least 99 years.
US bombers now use the UK base on Chagos’ largest island, Diego Garcia, to strike Iran. On Sunday, Iran said it launched missiles at Diego Garcia.
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