The Exceptional Case of the British Military Bases on Cyprus
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 51; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00263206.2014.947283
ISSN1743-7881
Autores Tópico(s)Defense, Military, and Policy Studies
ResumoAbstractAs is widely known, Cyprus was the place used as springboard for all the US–British air operations in the region surrounding it, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and so on. However, neither the Republic of Cyprus, nor the breakaway regime in the north of the island had anything to do with that. The logistical hub for those activities were the so-called Sovereign British Military Bases conceded to Britain in the 1960 Zurich Agreement in return for the independence Cyprus gained in the same year. Cyprus is the only place on the planet where the United Kingdom maintains as a legacy of British colonial rule sovereign military bases and a military presence secured as a result of a multilateral treaty of guarantee far surpassing those rights that the United Kingdom had managed to have recognized in the installation of military bases in Burma, Malta and Ceylon. Nevertheless, two things are very remarkable: why has the United States, despite its numerous other facilities in the Near East, preferred those bases for its activities? Why have the British clung on to their bases in Cyprus – in spite of the retreat of British forces from so many bases originally built by the United Kingdom in so many places around the world since 1960, although in comparison with other overseas garrisons still left of the British Empire, the one in Cyprus is the biggest and the most expensive to maintain? The article tries to illuminate the background of this paradox. It examines, based on primary and secondary sources from several countries, the historical evolution and regime of the UK Sovereign Military Bases on Cyprus, which constitute an exceptional case in both international relations and international law. It argues that the operation of the British bases in Cyprus has been exceeding the legal framework determined by the Treaty of Establishment and hardly complies with the British obligation to decolonize the entire territory of the island of Cyprus as well as the right of the Cypriot people to self-determination. NotesThe author would like to thank Sozos Theodoulou and Marina Hila for their comments and Jacob Landau for inspiration.1. For this particular annex but also for the body of legal texts included in the treaty, along with protocols and other official documents attached to it, see the documentary reader by N. Macris (ed.), The 1960 Treaties on Cyprus and Selected Subsequent Acts, Peleus Monographien-Reihe, Vol.24 (Mannheim-Möhnesee: Bibliopolis, 2003), pp.23–4.2. S.-C. Theodoulou, Bases militaires en droit international: le cas de Chypre, Peleus-Monographien-Reihe, Vol.34 (Mannheim and Möhnesee: Bibliopolis, 2006), p.9.3. Specifically, the annexes contain other areas that Britain acquired in addition to the sovereign bases, the so-called 'Sites and Installations' and British discretionary rights granted for the effective operation of the bases. Sometimes 'consultation with the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus' is required to operationalize such rights, at other times, some 'notification' of the authorities is enough for their exercise. For instance, without consultation or notification the UK authorities can use roads, ports and other facilities freely for the movement of troops to and from the UK, the bases, the sites, the installations and the British training areas in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus (Annex B, Part II, 1960: Section 4.1). Without consultation or notification, the UK can fly military aircraft in the airspace of the Republic, having no restriction other than due regard of air traffic and Cypriot life and property (Annex B, Part II). C. Constantinou and O. Richmond, 'The Long Mile of Empire: Power, Legitimation and the UK Bases in Cyprus', Mediterranean Politics, Vol.10, No.1 (2005), pp.66–714. R. Harkavy, Strategic Basing and the Great Powers, 1200–2000 (Routledge: New York, 2007), pp.1–6.5. Covenants on the Rights of Man, 19 Dec. 1966 and the UN Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States 1970.6. S. Krasner, Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).7. R. Emerson, 'Self-determination', The American Journal of International Law, Vol.65, No.3 (1971), pp.463–4; D. Galbreath, 'Dealing with Diversity in International Law: Self-determination and Statehood', The International Journal of Human Rights, Vol.9, No.4 (Dec. 2005), pp.539–50; and O. Kimminich and S. Hobe, Einführung in das Völkerrecht, 7th edition (Tübingen and Basel: Francke, 2000), p.113; and P. Groarke, Dividing the State: Legitimacy, Secession and the Doctrine of Oppression (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004); K. Knop, Diversity and Self-determination in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002); K. Zourgui, Die innere Selbstbestimmung der Völker im Spannungsverhältnis von Souveränität und Entwicklung, Studie des Düsseldorfer Instituts für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik (2005); R. Stavenhagen, 'Ethnic Conflict and Human Rights: Their Interrelationship', Security Dialogue, Vol.18 (1987), pp.512–13.8. See the following resolutions and decisions: (1) General Assembly 34 Press Release GA/9379 69th Meeting (PM) 10 Dec. 1997, 'Vote on Military Activities by Colonial Powers' (The draft decision on military activities by colonial powers in territories under their administration was adopted document A/52/621), (2) United Nations General Assembly A/55/575 (20 Oct. 2000), 'Economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories – Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Point 7: Military activities and arrangements by colonial Powers in territories under their administration', (3) The General Assembly (10 Dec. 1997) Meeting 69: 52/78 'Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples' (Draft: A/52/L.64 and Add. 1). Only the United Kingdom and the United States voted against this particular resolution, (4) United Nations General Assembly A/56/554 (21 Nov. 2001), 'Economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories: Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples: Report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee', (5) Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs Supplement No.7, Vol.V, Article 76.9. B. Elsner, Die Bedeutung des Volkes im Völkerrecht: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der historischen Entwicklung und der Praxis des Selbstbestimmungsrechts der Völker (Berlin: Duncker und Humboldt, 2000), p.6 ff.10. UN Press Release GA/COL/3057 03/07/2001, 'Special Committee on Decolonization 10th Meeting (AM), Decolonization Committee Seeks Dialogue for Peaceful Progress Towards Act of Self-Determination in New Caledonia'.11. UN Press Release GA/COL/3069 (2002), 'Special Committee on Decolonization 10th Meeting: Decolonization Committee Approves Three Texts on Military Installations, Nuclear Weapons, Economic Activities in Territories'.12. See the official texts on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. For the Falkland Islands: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename = OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c = Page&cid = 1007029394365&a = KCountryProfile&aid = 1018965238550.Also for Gibraltar: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename = OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c = Page&cid = 1007029394365&a = KCountryProfile&aid = 1018965242498.13. See the official view of the British government on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename = OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c = Page&cid = 1007029394365&a = KCountryProfile&aid = 1018965242498.14. See P. Calvocoressi, World Politics since 1945, 9th edition (Harlow et al.: Pearson, 2009), pp.323–45; and J.-M. Balencie and A. de la Grange, Exegermenoi Kosmoi: Antartika, militsies, tromokratikes omades (Athens: Typothito – George Dardanos, 2003), pp.476 ff. Original title: Mondes rebelles: Guérillas, milices, groupes terroristes (2001).15. Harkavy, Strategic Basing, pp.142–9.16. K. Kyriakides, 'The Sovereign Base Areas and British Defence Policy since 1960', in H. Faustmann and N. Peristianis (eds.), Britain in Cyprus: Colonialism and Post-Colonialism 1878–2006, Peleus Monographien-Reihe Bd. 19 (Mannheim and Möhnesee: Bibliopolis, 2006), pp.516–19.17. E. Hatzivasileiou, Stratigikes tou Kypriakou. I Dekaetia 1950 [Strategic Plans on Cyprus. The 1950s] (Athens: Patakis Publisher, 2005), pp.233–80.18. Foreign Office Archive in Public Record Office (hereafter) PRO: CO 926/415–19 and 454–9, Sabotage and Incidents in Cyprus in 1955, The Nature of EOKA, The Nature of PEKA-Political Committee of Cypriot Struggle (it was another 'subversive organization' operating in schools).19. PRO: CO 926/592, Report of the Cyprus Colonial Authorities to London (Secretary of State of Colonies) 27 January 1958 and CO 926/593, Report of the Cyprus Colonial Authorities to London (Secretary of State of Colonies) 2 August 1959.20. PRO: FO 371/9897, Memorandum by Headlam-Morley and Mr Childs respecting Cyprus 18 December 1924.21. PRO: CO 67/270/26, Report on the Potentialities of Cyprus as a Naval, Military and Air Base, 9 July 1936 and Memorandum of the Committee of Imperial Defence 29 July 1936 and CO 67/278/7, Development of Cyprus as a Defence Base.22. PRO: FO: CO 67/228/1, Panhellenic Propaganda, Dispatches from the British Embassy in Athens to London in August, September and October 1929.23. B. O'Malley and I. Craig, The Cyprus Conspiracy (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1999), pp.80–81.24. PRO: FO 371/107500 (1953), Brief for Visit by Secretary of State to Greece (Confidential). Subject: Greece and M.E.D.O. Historical Archives of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, File 23, sub file 4/1, Dispatch from the Embassy of Greece in Turkey to the Hellenic Directorate for the North Atlantic Treaty, Reg. No. 49621, 16 September 1952. Signed: Contoumas (Confidential).25. Eisenhower Library, Papers of Lauris Norstad (SACEUR of NATO 1956–64) Box 38, Personal for Twining from Turner, 12 December 1953.26. PRO: CO 67/368/8, Conversation between the Secretary of State and the Greek Ambassador May 1951 and Extract from Letter dated 23 March from Ernst Davies in Paris to Sir Strang; and CO 926/188, Dispatch from British Officer in Cyprus L.C. Glass to London about a talk with Greek Consul, Mr. Roufos on 6 August 1956.27. R. Holland, Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus 1954–1959 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002), pp.330–31.28. A. Gazioglu, Two Equal and Sovereign Peoples. A Documented Background to the Cyprus Problem the Current Partnership (Nicosia North: Cyprus, 1999), pp.75–729. For negotiations over bases, see H. Faustmann, 'Divide and Quit: British Colonial Policy in Cyprus 1878–1960. Including a Special Survey of the Transitional Period: February 1959–August 1960', Mateo Monographien Band 8, Mannheimer Texte: http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/verlag/diss/faustmann/Abstractfaust.html (University of Mannheim: Mateo, 1999), pp.331–407; and H. Richter, Geschichte der Insel Zypern III, 1959–1965. Peleus Vol.37 (Ruhpolding: Rutzen-Verlag, 2007), pp.13–52.30. PRO: CO 926/593, Report of the Cyprus Colonial Authorities to London (Secretary of State of Colonies) 2 August 1959.31. A. Constantinos, 'Britain, America and the Sovereign Base Areas from 1960–1978', in H. Faustmann and E. Solomou (eds.), Independent Cyprus 1960–2010. Selected Readings (Nicosia: University of Nicosia Press, 2011), pp.140–41.32. Ibid., pp.147–9.33. Although there are several resolutions (30 June 2005 and 1 March 2007) of the House of Representatives of the Cyprus Republic calling for that, the Cyprus government has never submitted an official request to the United Kingdom on this issue.34. W. Mallinson, '1976: British Cyprus and the consolidation of American Desires in the Eastern Mediterranean', Defensor Pacis, Vol.21 (2007), pp.20–22.35. W. Mallinson, 'A Partitioned Cyprus 40 Years after Qualified Sovereignty. Reality versus Morality', Defensor Pacis, Vol.7 (2001), p.52.36. A. Syrigos, Shedio Annan: Oi klironomies tou parelthontos kai oi prooptikes tou mellontos [Annanplan: The Heritage of the Past and the Future Perspectives] (Athens: Patakis-Publisher, 2005), pp.276–9.37. Even in the European Constitution, the United Kingdom managed to secure a special provision for the bases: Protocol No.3, Article IV-437 paragraph 2, element e; Article IV-440 paragraph 6, element b: 'this Treaty shall apply to Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the sovereign base areas of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Cyprus, only to the extent necessary to ensure the implementation of the arrangements originally provided for in the Protocol on the Sovereign Base Areas of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Cyprus'.38. Source from Cyprus Foreign Ministry, interview Oct. 2011.39. Draft Treaty of Establishment between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey (1960): Annex A concerning the Sovereign Base Areas and Annex B (parts I–VI); excerpt from the court decision in the 'Graham Thomas Preece v. Estia Insurance and Reinsurance Co. S.A. case, dated 27 July 1991'; Civil Appeal No. 7656/1991. The rationale of the aforementioned decision was subsequently adopted in two decisions (Case No.1147/1990 'Andreas Socratous v. Episkopi Improvement Council', dated 13 May 1992; Case No.1128/1999 'Caramondani Desalination Plants Ltd v. Ormidia Improvement Council', dated 13 June 2000).40. See the lecture given by Professor Alain Pellet (member and former president of the United Nations International Law) Commission on the legal status of Sovereign Military Bases in Cyprus (Cyprus, 8 March 2011), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = hwGZlFG8gVQ; and Theodoulou, Bases militaires, pp.60–73.41. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories Security, Success and Sustainability. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by Command of Her Majesty (June 2012), p.12.42. Y. Tirkides and K. Georgiou, 'Assessment of Social and Economic Relations with the Sovereign British Area', in A. Theophanous and Y. Tirkides (eds.), Reflections on the Relations between Britain and the Republic of Cyprus and the Case of the British Sovereign Base Area (Nicosia: Intercollege Press, 2007), pp.43–5.43. Archive of the Foreign Ministry of the Cyprus Republic: FA 1/1173, British Forces. Exercises not Provided by the Establishing Treaty.44. N. Claude, 'British Nuclear Weapons in Cyprus in the 1960s. The Evidence from the Archives', Thetis, Vol.7 (2000), pp.373–6.45. Joint report on the issue by the Parliamentary Committees for Foreign Affairs and Legal Issues, entitled 'British Bases: Political and Legal Aspects', 9 June 2005.46. Tirkides and Georgiou, 'Assessment', pp.48–9.47. Council of Europe: Doc.11232 (4 April 2007), Situation of the Inhabitants of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia: Report on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Rapporteur: Mr. Andreas Gross, Switzerland, Socialist Group.48. Arrangement between the Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland relating to the regulation of development in the Sovereign Base Areas Full Text: http://www.cyprusnewsreport.com/?q = node/7412.49. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Overseas Territories, p.22.50. Treaty Concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus: Article 8 (1), Article 10 (a).51. See the revealing book by B. Wagner, Business ist wie Krieg Führen (Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 2004), pp.75–8.52. Report to the Director General for Research of the European Parliament (Scientific and Technical Options Assessment Programme Office) on the development of surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information. Report by Duncan Campbell, IPTV Ltd Edinburgh, Scotland: April 1999. Also see http://www.antimedia.net/echelon.53. Source: http://cryptome.org/2012/01/0060.pdf.54. S. Bolukbasi, 'Behind the Turkish–Israeli Alliance: A Turkish View', Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol.29, No.1 (1999), p.26.55. Those activities of the Russian warship task force in the Mediterranean, in connection with the civil war in Syria, stand out from the usual training routine of the Russian army. They have no precedent in Russia's recent history in terms of the size of the forces involved, the measures employed, the territorial span, the number of exercises, or the scheduling and mode of carrying out the drills. The last combat-readiness tests on this scale were carried out by the Soviet army in the 1980s, as the Soviet Union maintained its 5th Mediterranean Squadron in the Mediterranean from 1967 until 1992. It was formed to counter the US Navy 6th Fleet during the Cold War, and consisted of 30–50 warships and auxiliary vessels between different periods. In the post-Cold War period, Russia sent ships to the region in 1995–96 and in December 2008 until January 2009. The intensity of recent Russian navy activities in the Mediterranean and the military means engaged are comparable, in due proportion, with the activities of the Soviet fleet during the Vietnam war. See A. Wilk, 'Russian Army Justifies its Reforms', Centre for Eastern Studies–Commentary, 26 July 2013.
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