‘British possession of territory in Cyprus is a great mistake of history’

The United Kingdom’s continued possession of two sovereign base areas in Cyprus is “a great mistake of history”, Turkish Cypriot opposition political party deputy leader Asim Akansoy said on Tuesday, a day after the British Akrotiri air force base on the island was hit by a drone.

He told the Turkish Cypriot legislature that “a country’s fate cannot be determined by external interventions”, before going on to stress that the UK’s bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia “are not merely military bases, but are British sovereign territory”.

“These structures have a historical background. The bases are a product of British imperialism,” he said, before also criticising the Republic of Cyprus’ inviting of further external forces to the region.

“We cannot accept initiatives for American, Israeli, or French military bases in the current de facto situation in Cyprus,” he said, before adding that he and others had offered warnings regarding the American use of the airbase at Paphos airport.

“We told them, ‘you are playing with fire’. The island is not capable of handling this many weapons and military agreements based on weapons,” he said.

Regarding his own and his party’s stance on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, he said that “we neither support the ideology of the mullah regime in Iran, nor the conflict policies of the US and Israel in the region”.

“We want the people living there to determine their own destinies, to preserve their own cultural and social structures, and to decide their own future,” he said.

His concerns regarding the use of the British bases was shared by fellow CTP member Teberruken Ulucay, who said that with the bases having been hit and an Iranian general having threatened Cyprus, “we, the Turkish Cypriot people, are experiencing a situation we absolutely do not deserve”.

To ameliorate this issue, he said, the island’s two major communities “can act together, especially in terms of security”.

“We have different opinions on the Cyprus issue, but despite this, solidarity can be shown, as in the case of foot and mouth disease,” he said, in reference to the donation of 60,000 doses of the foot and mouth vaccine by the Turkish Cypriot authorities with the Larnaca district battling an outbreak.

To this end, he said that “the island is a whole, and events which do not recognise borders can also happen”.

“The island of Cyprus must be coordinated during this period. This coordination should be carried out at the leadership level. This conflict presents an unpredictable situation,” he said.