By Mehmet Kemal Firik
ISTANBUL (AA) – The president of Northern Cyprus on Thursday cautioned against the UK's decision to send 700 additional troops to its sovereign bases on the island, with Britain citing the need to evacuate its citizens from war-torn Lebanon.
Ersin Tatar told Anadolu on Thursday that amid continuing attacks in Gaza and the risk of Israel launching a large-scale attack on Lebanon, the purpose of the UK sending an additional 700 troops to its sovereign bases on the island for evacuations could indicate the possibility of a regional war.
Tatar cited Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's statement that the Greek Cypriot administration has become a base used by certain countries, especially in operations against Gaza, adding: “My main assessment is that Britain's increase in the number of troops in its sovereign bases in Cyprus is within the framework of measures taken to spread an expected war in the region.”
Stressing that Türkiye is one of the guarantor states of the whole island of Cyprus and that the Greeks’ transformation of the island into a military base for foreign countries is both contrary to international agreements and unacceptable, Tatar said: “The recent continuous increase in the military presence of the UK and US on Cyprus disturbs not only us but also the Greeks. We can see that they are uncomfortable from the public reactions and the news media. These are movements that need to be closely monitored, and we are following the developments together with Türkiye.”
Tatar underlined that the Greek Cypriot leadership should act more pragmatically on these issues, as by turning Cyprus into a military base used by many countries, the Greeks have sown caused instability in the Eastern Mediterranean and made the island the target of many Mideast-based groups.
- UK statements
Saying the UK is accelerating its contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the Ministry of Defense would send 700 troops to its sovereign bases on Cyprus for possible evacuations.
The British Foreign Ministry later confirmed that 700 troops were deployed to the island to support the possible evacuation of British citizens from nearby Lebanon.
Britain has two bases on the island of Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, both of them sovereign bases.
*Writing by Efe Ozkan