The Spectator newsletter reports:
Talking of old struggles, Cyprus wants to have a ‘frank discussion’ about our military bases on the island, which have had attention drawn to them by the conflict in Iran. Cypriot protestors believe that the presence of our bases are turning them into targets for drone strikes and other attacks. Hardly the blitz spirit. The Cypriot president has also referred to the bases as ‘colonial’, which seems a bit hackneyed.
Well maybe.
Nobody would be sending drones/missiles to attack Cyprus if there were no UK bases there.
It's well-understood that the bases are not there to protect Cyprus - they did nothing about the Turkish invasion in 1974 - but as a power projection platform for NATO.
If the bases moved out at least two things would happen:
- Cyprus would lose some useful revenue from all those Brits.
- There would be a property development bonanza as the SBAs occupy prime Cyprus real-estate.
Maybe (2) is really what is in the mind of the Cypriot president?