Akrotiri and Dhekelia

Bases, not colonies

The Treaty of Establishment, signed in Nicosia on 16 August 1960, created the Republic of Cyprus.^[2] Britain, Greece, Turkey and the new republic were its parties, and its first article says the republic is the whole island “with the exception of the two areas” that remain under British sovereignty: the Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas.^[3] Together they cover 98 square miles, about 3% of the island.^[1]

Britain kept them as military bases, and a declaration attached to the treaty, known as Appendix O, set limits on what it would do with them. It would not develop them for anything but military use, not set up colonies, not put customs posts or frontier barriers between the bases and the republic, not open civilian ports or airports, and not allow new settlement except temporarily.^[4] So the Administration, which answers to the Ministry of Defence in London, still describes them as “military bases – not ‘colonial’ territories”.^[1]

“Not to set up and administer “colonies”.”^[4]

A border you can’t see

The lines were drawn in 1960 around the main military installations and meant to leave villages out, but they didn’t manage it everywhere. Three pieces of the republic sit inside Dhekelia like islands: the villages of Ormidhia and Xylotymbou and the Dhekelia power station. About 10,000 Cypriots now live inside the bases, alongside some 3,800 British military and civilian personnel and their families.^[1] Most of the land isn’t even British-owned: about 60% is private.^[1]

Under the 1960 declaration, Cypriots have free access to and through the bases, the laws for them are kept as close as possible to the republic’s, and the republic’s currency is legal tender.^[4] In practice people travel in and out without passport checks, often without noticing they have changed jurisdiction.^[3]

Inside the EU, then outside it

The EU treaties never applied to the bases, but when Cyprus joined the EU on 1 May 2004, a protocol to its accession treaty put them inside the EU customs territory, so goods could keep moving freely.^[3] After Brexit, a protocol to the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement kept them there, with Cypriot authorities doing the customs work, except for military goods.^[3]

Dhekelia also touches the island’s other division. The UN buffer zone that splits Cyprus is interrupted by Dhekelia, where the UN does not operate, and two crossing points between north and south, at Pergamos and Strovilia, lie in the British base.^[5] British authorities check the people crossing there.^[3]

In 2014 Britain and Cyprus agreed an arrangement for non-military development, letting Cypriots build homes, shops and businesses on their land inside the bases, with planning rules based on the republic’s. The Administration calls it the biggest change since 1960.^[6]