Cyprus Calls UK Bases “Colonial,” Trouble Is, They’re Ours

Cyprus’ president Nikos Christodoulides has suggested Britain’s military presence on the island should be scrapped after the Middle East conflict ends, branding it a “colonial consequance.”

He was asked by the BBC on March 19 if the “British should keep their bases on the Island.”

Christodoulides said that when this “unfortunate situation is over in the Middle East we are going to have an open and frank discussion with the British government” in regards to the future of the British bases in Cyprus.

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“I’m not going to negotiate publicly,” he said.

“The British bases in Cyrpus is a colonial consequance in the Islands,” he said.

“We have more than 10,000 Cypriot citizens within the British bases. We have responsibility for those people,” Christodoulides said.

The UK controls Akrotiri and Dhekelia as Sovereign Base Areas, meaning they are British territory, not land borrowed from Cyprus or subject to local approval.

The Island has been hit by Iranian-made, Shahed-type drones, some of which have smashed into a hangar at RAF Akrotiri.

And it all fairness, while Portsmouth warship HMS Dragon is heading to Cyprus, it’s taking a long time to get there.

But if it’s British soil, it’s not something another country simply gets to negotiate away.