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Cyprus: Sovereign Base Areas (United Kingdom)

by Antònio Martins

Status of the bases
Use of flags on the bases

See also:

Sovereign Base Areas (United Kingdom)

Cyprus gained its independence only in exchange for the creation of three British military bases on its territory: these are the base of Akrotiri, the base of Dhekelia and the Mount Olympus radar centre on the top of the Troodos Mountains. The British law is the only law there.

Source: Le grand guide de Chypre (Gallimard, 1993)

Pascal Vagnat 23 November 1995

The bases cover 99 square miles of the island. They were prescribed by the1960 Treaty of Establishment.

Panayiotis Panayiotou, 25 November 2002

Use of flags on the bases

According to Colours of the Fleet [frr9X]:
"The two Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus are administered by the Commander British Forces on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, and not by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. At one time the RAF Ensign was taken to be the de-facto national flag of the Sovereign Base Areas because of local political sensitivity to the use of the Union Flag in Cyprus."

The British Sovereign Bases are a remnant of the British Empire and are, as their name implies, British territory, and so the Cyprus flag would only be flown as a courtesy "foreign" flag.

David Prother