Anger in Cyprus over UK bases as US-Israel war with Iran endangers island

Chants of “British bases out” have rung out in recent days in Limassol, as protesters call for the removal of UK military 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 attacks on Iran began.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also allowed the US to use British bases for “defensive strikes” on Iranian missile sites, a move that has intensified debate in Cyprus over the presence of the British military on the island.

A ‘remnant’ of British colonialism

The UK retained two sovereign base areas on Cyprus – Akrotiri and Dhekelia – since the island nation gained independence in 1960 under a fragile power-sharing arrangement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

For many Cypriots, that arrangement represented a compromise that left Cyprus only 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 near the Akrotiri RAF base, told Al Jazeera over the phone. “To me, Cyprus was never truly decolonised.”

The bases, which are not part of any lease agreement benefitting the island economically, have served as launch points for British military operations in the Middle East.

Aircraft from RAF Akrotiri have supported campaigns in Iraq and Libya, while more recently the base has been used to assist Israeli operations in Gaza, where 70,000 people have been killed.

Nicolaou said the United Kingdom frames the bases as there for protection when, in fact, “they’re really here to spy on the Middle East; when planes take off, people know they’re going to a warzone or sharing intelligence for a mission.”

In October, Declassified UK, a news outlet focused on British foreign policy, reported that more than 600 surveillance flights linked to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza had taken off from Cyprus during the first two years of the onslaught.

In the report, Declassified UK said that a US military contractor hired by the UK to conduct surveillance above Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza the night before an Israeli bombing killed more 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 allow the UK to treat the island like an aircraft carrier for military campaigns.

He opposes them on moral grounds and because they put the local population at risk.

Nicolaou said the UK’s response – updating personnel on the base while providing little information to nearby residents – angers many locals. More have joined campaigns to remove the bases.

“Now that we are being attacked, people are realising that the activists and politicians who have been warning we are in danger might have been right,” she said.

At a protest on Monday, dozens of new people attended, especially concerned parents, she said.

The sovereign base areas together cover approximately 3 percent of the island, but their footprint extends beyond military facilities, with several Cypriot villages lying within or partly within the territories.

‘No advantage’ for Cypriots

Unlike bases in the Gulf, which the British military operates through leases or host-nation agreements, RAF Akrotiri and Dhekelia are effectively permanent British-controlled territories.

The UK had initially provided financial assistance to Cyprus after independence in 1960 under the arrangements that established the sovereign base areas, though the payments ended in the mid-1960s amid unrest on the island.

In 1974, a Greek-backed coup seeking union with Greece triggered a Turkish military intervention that divided Cyprus, a split that largely remains today.

This means that aside from the incomes of Cypriots who work on the bases, there is “no advantage” to Cyprus allowing these bases to operate, Nico told Al Jazeera.

Nicolaou said that some people believe the British presence provides security against Turkiye, which occupies the northern third of the island.

But it is a view that she disputes, arguing the UK had “failed to intervene during the events leading to the island’s division”.

Nico added that during the fighting in 1974, locals had sought refuge on the bases; now the reverse was occurring, with people wanting to evacuate the area out of fear that they would be attacked by drones or missiles.

He said that on Monday, when the suspected Iranian drone attack occurred, some people got into their cars, scared and disoriented, and began driving away from areas surrounding the bases.

There is a strong perception that the government lacks leadership and that nationals are not being properly informed.

Many flights in and out of Cyprus have been cancelled, and in a country where tourism accounts for about 14 percent of GDP, the disruption could have a significant economic impact.

On Tuesday, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said it was sending a warship to the island along with two Wildcat helicopters “to bolster drone defence for our Cypriot partners”, raising further fears that Cyprus will continue to be a target.

As Cypriots prepare to face further security threats and economic consequences, Nico expressed his frustration with a rhetorical question: “All this for what? Just to support the unprovoked attack of the US and Israel on Iran?”