How Cyprus talks stalemate serves British strategic interests

How Cyprus talks stalemate serves British strategic interests

The presence of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at last week’s short-lived Cyprus unification talks in Switzerland owed more to Britain’s strategic interests than its historic obligations to the divided Mediterranean island, according to analysts.

Although the meeting in Geneva between Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives and officials from Athens and Ankara broke up last Thursday with most observers noting little in the way of progress towards resolving the decades-old issue, Johnson appeared to take a more positive view of proceedings.

“I welcome the real progress made towards finding a solution to the Cyprus settlement over the last few days, in particular on the future security of a united Cyprus,” he said.

But as Ayla Gurel from the Cyprus branch of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) pointed out, as far as British interests were concerned, the discussion of security did not simply concern the future security of the people of Cyprus on either side of the "green line" that separates the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state.

“Cyprus is a strategically important country and has British bases on the island,” Gurel told Middle East Eye. “Britain tries to keep a low profile. It has no strong views about what the solution should be as long as nobody touches its bases.”

Retained when Cyprus achieved independence from Britain in 1960, the military bases and installations form part of the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) – a British Overseas Territory.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/analysis-cyprus-british-bases-turkey-greece-5491468