Britain’s military bases are not up for negotiation with Cyprus despite the country demanding ‘frank’ talks over the ‘colonial’ outposts, a Labour minister has insisted.
Al Carns, the Armed Forces minister, said the legal status of the UK’s bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia is ‘rock solid’.
It comes after Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides questioned their future last month in the wake of an Iranian drone strike on RAF Akrotiri.
The suicide drone is said to have been launched by Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A treaty signed on Cyrpiot independence in 1960 saw Akrotiri and Dhekelia retained as British sovereign territory.
They have been used to conduct operations in the Middle East, with RAF jets having recently conducted sorties from the island to protect against Iranian strikes.
But relations with Cyprus appear to have been strained by the delay in sending a warship to defend the island amid the Middle East crisis.
The drone attack on RAF Akrotiri also raised concerns in Cyprus that the bases could be a threat to the island’s security, with protesters taking to the streets.
Speaking at a European Council meeting in Brussels in March, Mr Christodoulides called for an ‘open and frank discussion’ about the future of the bases.
‘The British bases in Cyprus are something that is a colonial consequence in the island,’ he said.
‘We have more than 10,000 Cypriot citizens within the British bases, we have a responsibility for these people.’
But, during a visit to RAF Akrotiri, Mr Carns has dimissed the idea that Labour could enter talks to hand over control of the bases.
‘We have to be really clear on this, the legal status of the sovereign base areas is rock solid,’ he told The Telegraph.
‘What we’re seeing because of the threat that has been posed, for the first time in a long time, is the Cypriots, the Brits and other allies coming together to work on an integrated plan to defend the capabilities here,’ he added.
‘I think we’ll see a lot of positives. We can understand some of the frictions but the reality is the legal basis of these sovereign territories is non-negotiable.’
Mr Carns also addressed US President Donald Trump’s demands for NATO allies to help clear the critical Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively shut by Iran in response to US and Israeli strikes.
Energy prices have risen sharply during the ongoing closure of the Strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil was transported prior to outbreak of the Iran war.
Mr Carns, a former Royal Marine, said: ‘To clear or secure the Strait of Hormuz in the midst of a conflict is exceptionally difficult with a range of subsurface autonomous threats, naval mines… and would require a large military effort.’
Asked whether the two-week ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran was too short to organise such a mission, he replied: ‘This needs to go longer and we welcome it going longer.’
Mr Carns also hit back at Mr Trump’s recent claims that British aircraft carriers are ‘toys’, saying: ‘Our aircraft carriers are some of the most capable in the world.’
