Turkish Cyprus president warns of potential targeting due to British bases

The president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Tuesday warned that activity at British bases on the island could make Cyprus a target.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Lefkosa upon returning from meetings in the U.K., Ersin Tatar said the U.K. has two sovereign bases in Cyprus, which play a significant role in the region.

Due to certain policies of the Greek Cypriot administration and aircraft taking off from British bases, there have been statements from the Middle East targeting Cyprus, he added.

“When the UK withdrew from Cyprus, it took two sovereign bases through agreements. Because these bases have ‘sovereign’ status, no one can interfere. If British planes taking off from these bases get involved in certain issues, this could make Cyprus a target,” he said.

Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in June said that Israel plans to use Greek Cypriot airports and airspace if its own airports are targeted in the event of a full-scale war with Lebanon.

He warned that the island, located west of Lebanon, would be treated as an “enemy” in such a scenario.

In response, the Greek Cypriot government told Lebanon that it has no intention of getting involved in the current conflict in any capacity.

Tatar also said that during his meetings in the U.K., he met with Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, the U.N. envoy to Cyprus, adding that her efforts to restart the negotiation process had not produced any results.

Tatar said that it is not possible to continue the Cyprus negotiations from where they left off in 2017, reiterating that a precondition for negotiations is the acceptance of the sovereign equal status of the Turkish Cypriot people.

On Thursday’s U.K. general elections, Tatar said the newly elected government should consider the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people and take a more just approach to the issue.

Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Crans-Montana, Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.