Chants of “British bases out” have rung out in latest days in Limassol, as protesters name for the elimination of UK army bases from Cyprus’s sun-drenched south coast island.
Demonstrations erupted after a suspected Iranian-made drone struck RAF Akrotiri earlier this week, two days after US-Israeli assaults on Iran started.
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer has additionally allowed the US to make use of British bases for “defensive strikes” on Iranian missile websites, a transfer that has intensified debate in Cyprus over the presence of the British army on the island.
A ‘remnant’ of British colonialism
The UK retained two sovereign base areas on Cyprus – Akrotiri and Dhekelia – because the island nation gained independence in 1960 below a fragile power-sharing association between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
For a lot of Cypriots, that association represented a compromise that left Cyprus solely partially sovereign.
“The bases are a remnant of the colonial and imperialist empire of Britain,” Melanie Steliou Nicolaou, an actress and TV presenter who lives close to the Akrotiri RAF base, advised Al Jazeera over the telephone. “To me, Cyprus was by no means actually decolonised.”
The bases, which aren’t a part of any lease settlement benefitting the island economically, have served as launch factors for British army operations within the Center East.
Plane from RAF Akrotiri have supported campaigns in Iraq and Libya, whereas extra not too long ago the bottom has been used to help Israeli operations in Gaza, the place 70,000 individuals have been killed.
Nicolaou mentioned the UK frames the bases as there for cover when, in truth, “they’re actually right here to spy on the Center East; when planes take off, individuals know they’re going to a warzone or sharing intelligence for a mission.”
In October, Declassified UK, a information outlet centered on British overseas coverage, reported that greater than 600 surveillance flights linked to Israel’s genocidal battle on Gaza had taken off from Cyprus throughout the first two years of the onslaught.
Within the report, Declassified UK mentioned {that a} US army contractor employed by the UK to conduct surveillance above Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza the evening earlier than an Israeli bombing killed greater than 30 Palestinians on December 12, 2024.
Nico, a resident and activist with the group Autonomy, Feminism, Ecology and Anti-Capitalism (AFOA) who requested Al Jazeera withhold his surname, described the bases as “unsinkable launchpads” that enable the UK to deal with the island like an plane provider for army campaigns.
He opposes them on ethical grounds and since they put the native inhabitants in danger.
Nicolaou mentioned the UK’s response – updating personnel on the bottom whereas offering little info to close by residents – angers many locals. Extra have joined campaigns to take away the bases.
“Now that we’re being attacked, individuals are realising that the activists and politicians who’ve been warning we’re in peril might need been proper,” she mentioned.
At a protest on Monday, dozens of latest individuals attended, particularly involved mother and father, she mentioned.
The sovereign base areas collectively cowl roughly 3 p.c of the island, however their footprint extends past army amenities, with a number of Cypriot villages mendacity inside or partly throughout the territories.
‘No benefit’ for Cypriots
In contrast to bases within the Gulf, which the British army operates via leases or host-nation agreements, RAF Akrotiri and Dhekelia are successfully everlasting British-controlled territories.
The UK had initially offered monetary help to Cyprus after independence in 1960 below the preparations that established the sovereign base areas, although the funds ended within the mid-Nineteen Sixties amid unrest on the island.
In 1974, a Greek-backed coup looking for union with Greece triggered a Turkish army intervention that divided Cyprus, a break up that largely stays right this moment.
Which means except for the incomes of Cypriots who work on the bases, there may be “no benefit” to Cyprus permitting these bases to function, Nico advised Al Jazeera.
Nicolaou mentioned that some individuals imagine the British presence gives safety towards Turkiye, which occupies the northern third of the island.
However it’s a view that she disputes, arguing the UK had “did not intervene throughout the occasions resulting in the island’s division”.
Nico added that throughout the preventing in 1974, locals had sought refuge on the bases; now the reverse was occurring, with individuals eager to evacuate the realm out of concern that they’d be attacked by drones or missiles.
He mentioned that on Monday, when the suspected Iranian drone assault occurred, some individuals obtained into their automobiles, scared and disoriented, and started driving away from areas surrounding the bases.
There’s a sturdy notion that the federal government lacks management and that nationals should not being correctly knowledgeable.
Many flights out and in of Cyprus have been cancelled, and in a rustic the place tourism accounts for about 14 p.c of GDP, the disruption may have a big financial impression.
On Tuesday, the UK’s Ministry of Defence mentioned it was sending a warship to the island together with two Wildcat helicopters “to bolster drone defence for our Cypriot companions”, elevating additional fears that Cyprus will proceed to be a goal.
As Cypriots put together to face additional safety threats and financial penalties, Nico expressed his frustration with a rhetorical query: “All this for what? Simply to help the unprovoked assault of the US and Israel on Iran?”
