| Sovereign Base Areas - Akrotiri and Dhekelia |
The British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia comprise those parts of Cyprus which stayed under British jurisdiction and remained British sovereign territory when the 1960 Treaty of Establishment created the independent Republic of Cyprus.
Akrotiri and Dhekelia are UK Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) on Cyprus, a former British Crown Colony. Akrotiri is located in the south of the island near the city of Limassol (or Lemesos).
Dhekelia is in the southeast near Larnaca. Both of these areas include military bases as well as farmland and some residential land.
Akrotiri is surrounded by the territory controlled by the Republic of Cyprus, but Dhekelia also borders on the UN buffer zone and the territory controlled by the Turkish occupied part of the island.
The SBAs, contain the only fully fledged RAF station in the Mediterranean (since Gibraltar does not have any aircraft permanently based there), RAF Akrotiri. In addition to the garrison, the UK makes a contribution to the United Nations force in Cyprus. In total, some 3,500 British personnel are based in Cyprus.
The boundries of the SBAs are marked by white pillars, there are roads running through the territory and through the military camps, which are open to traffic from Cyprus. Civilian laws are enacted by the British civilian authorities, but are patterned on those of the Republic of Cyprus. |
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Army Garrison HQ at Dhekelia |
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| Many Cypriots work in the SBAs, mainly for the British authorities or as farmers, or for a few local businesses. However only those Cypriots with a local connection are permitted to live within the SBAs, such as those from Akrotiri village or from the outskirts of villages neighbouring the bases. The villages of Xylotimbou and Ormidhia, are enclaves surrounded by Dhekelia SBA, and are part of the Republic of Cyprus and subject to Cypriot law. |
| The SBAA is responsible for protection of the environment in the bases and works closely with the relevant Cypriot Republic departments. A joint exercise protects breeding loggerhead and green turtles on the beaches within the WSBA. The only remaining colony of griffon vultures on Cyprus is on the cliffs at Episkopi in the WSBA, and there is a large colony of Eleanora’s falcons both here and on the cliffs bordering the Royal Air Force station at Akrotiri. The most important wetland on the island of Cyprus, Akrotiri salt lake, lies within the WSBA and is proposed as a Ramsar wetland site of international importance. |
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| Flag |
The flag of the United Kingdon, the Union Flag.
Blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland).
Properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces. |
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| Episkopi Cantonment |
Episkopi Cantonment is the capital of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus, administered as a Sovereign Base Area. It is located in the middle of the Western Sovereign Base Area, one of the two areas which comprise the territory. It is located at 34°40′N 32°51′E. Although it is not the largest of the British military bases on the island, it is however home to the both the civilian and military administration headquarters of the Sovereign Base Areas.
Episkopi is the current command centre of British Forces Cyprus. The commander of the Sovereign Base Areas/British Forces Cyprus (CBF) is either a Major General or an Air Vice Marshal, alternating every three years transferring the command between the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Consequently, the Deputy British Forces Cyprus (DBFC) is from the opposite service of the commander, either a Brigadier or an Air Commodore. |
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| RAF Akrotiri |
| The Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of South-Eastern Cyprus includes the airfield of Akrotiri, which was first opened in 1956. The RAF use the airfield as a staging post for transport aircraft, and as a temporary operating base for aircraft carrying out Armament Practice Camps. The RAF Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, also use the airfield every year for their display work up. Permanently based at Akrotiri is No 84 Squadron who perform Search and Rescue duties as well as a support role for the UN peacekeeping forces on the island with Griffin helicopters. |
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| Geography |
| Akrotiri and Dhekelia cover 3% of the land area of Cyprus, a total of 254 km2 (98 sq miles) (123 km² (47.5) at Akrotiri and 131 km2 (51 sq miles) (50.5) at Dhekelia). 60% of the land is privately owned, either by British or Cypriot citizens. The other 40% is owned by the Ministry of Defence, or is classed as Crown land. In addition to Akrotiri and Dhekelia themselves, the Treaty of Establishment also provides for the continued use by the British Government of certain facilities within Cyprus, known as Retained Sites.
Akrotiri is located in the south of the island, near the city of Limassol (or Lemesos). Dhekelia is in the southeast, near Larnaca. Both of these areas include military bases, as well as farmland and some residential land. Akrotiri is surrounded by territory controlled by the Republic of Cyprus, though Dhekelia also borders on the United Nations (UN) buffer zone and the area controlled by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Ayia Napa lies to the East of Dhekelia. The villages of Xylotymbou and Ormidhia, also in the Republic of Cyprus, are enclaves surrounded by Dhekelia SBA. The Dhekelia Power Station, divided by a British road into two parts, also belongs to Cyprus. The northern part is an enclave, like the two villages, whereas the southern part is located by the sea, and therefore not an enclave, though it has no territorial waters of its own.
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| Climate |
| The Cypriot climate is typically Mediterranean with very hot summers in July and August. Most of the year is dry with unpredictable rains falling in December, January and February. Cyprus often suffers drought years and water is such a scarce commodity that it is frequently rationed. However this problem has been addressed by the construction of dams and desalination plants. |
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| Maps of Cyprus |
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| Dheklia Sovereign Base Area |
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| Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area |
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| Dispute with Cyprus |
For four years after Cypriot independence in 1960, the British government supported the Republic of Cyprus financially. After the intercommunal conflict of 1963-64 it stopped, claiming there was no guarantee that both communities would benefit equally from that money. The Cypriot government is still claiming money for the years from 1964 to now although to date has taken no international legal action to test the validity of its claim. Estimates for the claimed debt range from several hundred thousand to over one billion euro.
In July 2001, violent protests were held at the bases by local Cypriots, angry at British plans to construct radio masts at the bases, as part of an upgrade of British military communication posts around the world. Locals had claimed the masts would endanger local lives and cause cancer, as well as have a negative impact on wildlife in the area. The British government denied these claims.
The UK has shown no intention of surrendering the bases, although it has offered to surrender 117 square kilometres (45 square miles) of farmland as part of the rejected Annan Plan for Cyprus. Today, around 3,000 troops of British Forces Cyprus are based at Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Ayios Nikolaos Station, in the ESBA, is a GCHQ electronic intelligence listening station of the UKUSA intelligence network.
The election of left-wing Dimitris Christofias as Cypriot president in February 2008 has prompted concern in Britain. Christofias has pledged to remove all foreign military forces from the island as part of a future settlement of the Cyprus dispute, calling the British presence on the island a "colonial bloodstain". |
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| The election of left-wing Dimitris Christofias as Cypriot president in February 2008 has prompted concern in Britain. Christofias has pledged to remove all foreign military forces from the island as part of a future settlement of the Cyprus dispute, calling the British presence on the island a "colonial bloodstain". |
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| Constitution & Governance |
| This is the basic philosophy of their administration as declared by Her Majesty's Government in 'Appendix O' to the 1960 treaty with Cyprus, which provided that the British government intended: |
Not to develop the Sovereign Base Areas for other than military purposes.
Not to set up and administer "colonies".
Not to create customs posts or other frontier barriers between the Sovereign Base Areas and the Republic.
Not to set up or permit the establishment of civilian commercial or industrial enterprises except insofar as these are connected with military requirements, and not otherwise to impair the economic commercial or industrial unity and life of the Island.
Not to establish commercial or civilian seaports or airports.
Not to allow new settlement of people in the Sovereign Base Areas other than for temporary purposes.
Not to expropriate private property within the Sovereign Base Areas except for military purposes on payment of fair compensation. |
| The bases have their own legal system, distinct from the United Kingdom and Cyprus. This consists of the laws of the Colony of Cyprus as at August 1960, amended as necessary. The laws of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are kept, as far as possible, the same as the laws of Cyprus. The Court of the Sovereign Base Areas is concerned with non-military offences committed by any person within Akrotiri and Dhekelia, and law and order is maintained by the Sovereign Base Areas Police, while military law is upheld by the Cyprus Joint Police Unit. |
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| Politics |
According to the Ministry of Defence, "Because the SBAs are primarily required as military bases and not ordinary dependent territories, the Administration reports to the Ministry of Defence in London. It has no formal connection with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the British High Commission in Nicosia, although there are close informal links with both offices on policy matters."
The bases are administered by the Administrator of the Sovereign Base Areas, who is the Commander of British Forces Cyprus (from 2010 AVM Graham Stacey). The Administrator is officially appointed by the British monarch, on the advice of the Ministry of Defence. The Administrator has all the executive and legislative authority of a Governor of an overseas territory. A Chief Officer is appointed, and is responsible to the Administrator for the day-to-day running of the civil government. No elections are held in the Bases, although British citizens are normally entitled to vote in United Kingdom elections (as British Forces or overseas electors). |
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| Economy |
| There are no economic statistics gathered for Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The main economic activities are the provision of services to the military, as well as limited agriculture. On 1 January 2008 Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopted the euro along with the rest of Cyprus, despite not being part of the European Union. The Sovereign Base Areas are the only areas under British sovereignty to use the euro. |
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| Demographics |
When the bases were being established, the boundaries were drawn up to avoid centres of population. However, around 14,000 people live in the bases. Around 7,000 native Cypriots live in the bases, who either work in the bases themselves, or on farmland within the boundaries of the bases. The British military and their families make up the rest of the population.
There is no specific citizenship available for the bases, although some people may be able to claim British Overseas Territories citizenship (BOTC) status. Unlike all other British territories, BOTCs connected solely with the Sovereign Base Areas do not have any entitlement to full British citizenship.
Under the terms of the 1960 agreement with Cyprus establishing the Sovereign Base Areas, the United Kingdom is committed not to use the Areas for civilian purposes. This was stated in 2002 as the primary reason for the exclusion of the Areas from the scope of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. |
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| Media |
A monthly magazine 'CFL - Cyprus Forces Life' is published in both SBAs and in shops. BFBS Radio 1 and 2 are broadcast on FM and can be widely received in Cyprus, but the BFBS Television signal has been confined to the SBAs or encrypted since 1997, for copyright reasons. Limassol BBC Relay is situated here.
BFBS Cyprus has its main studios and head office at RAF Akrotiri in the Western Sovereign Base Area. They also have a smaller studio and office based in Dhekelia in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area. |
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| Sovereign Base Areas Customs |
| Sovereign Base Areas Customs is a semi-autonomous branch of UK Customs with jurisdiction over Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus, administered as a Sovereign Base Area, and home to British Forces Cyprus. It is managed by the MoD and around 3500 military personnel are posted there at any one time. In contrast with other customs forces the SBA Customs has a much wider role of responsibility, like most branches within the territory, successfully administrating many areas including but not limited to; immigration, imports, exports, tax, births, marriages, divorces and deaths. |
The senior and local management officers are on loan from the Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in the UK and assist with operational management and training and development of the locally employed officers of SBA Customs and Immigration service. SBACI officers monitor two crossing points at Pergamos and Strovilia in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area at the Green Line Border between the Republic of Cyprus and Turkish Controlled Area of the North of Cyprus. Between the North and South areas of the island there are formal customs and immigration controls at these crossing points and the UN Buffer Zone remains along most part of the Green Line. SBA Customs are frequently involved in preventing smuggling and illegal immigration into SBA territory. There are regular mobile patrols along the ESBA section of the Green line and training exercises and operations are accomplished with the close cooperation of SBA Police and UK Military units based in Cyprus at the time.
Businesses based within territory must be licenced by the SBA Customs to conduct trade and there are various guidelines and restrictions for various types of business. The administration also produces birth, marriage and death certificates for UK Dependants based within the territory.
Working in unison with the Cyprus Joint Maritime Unit comprising the Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron and 417 Maritime of the RLC, the Sovereign Base Area Administration (SBAA) now operate a combined maritime unit comprising joint working of SBA Police and SBA Customs to operate patrols within territorial waters and along the coastline within the territory to prevent illegal immigration, illegal fishing, and smuggling. Their enforcement has allowed for the fish reserve at Akrotiri to remain prosperous as due to extensive over-fishing much of the fish life in the waters in other areas of the island is very low in numbers. In conjunction to this SBA Customs also liaise closely with UK military resources and the Republic of Cyprus Government Departments to combat pollution in SBA waters and along the coastline whilst controlling ports and fisheries. The Fiscal Officer is also designated the Queens harbourmaster of the mole in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
SBA Customs and Immigration Officers are a uniformed organisation and wear a uniform with the style of Royal Naval rank insignia but are distinguished by a cap badge which contains the portcullis underneath the Sovereign’s crown, enclosed within a pair of golden fronds. The ranks of SBA Customs are worn as follows: the Fiscal Officer wears the insignia of a RN Commander whilst the Deputy Fiscal Officer and Officer in Charge at Dhekelia wear the rank braid of RN Lieutenant Commander. Locally employed uniformed operational officers at RAF Akrotiri and the military station at Dhekelia and the ESBA crossing points wear badges of rank with one or two rings of braid according to their substantive grade.
SBA Customs control tax free imports at the airports and the crossing points within the territory by regulating the value and amount of goods such as cigarettes or alcohol that can be carried through the control and entry points without declaration. The main airport is RAF Akrotiri which has many regular flights to and from the UK and the Middle East.
The SBAs in Cyprus also provide the opportunity for a stop off point for 36 hours for soldiers that have recently experienced combat to participate in decompression activity before returning home. |
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The SBA boundries are marked by white posts |
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| In April 2004 over 100,000 cigarettes were seized and the largest isolated attempt to smuggle cigarettes involved a Turkish Cypriot man from Lapithos, who tried to smuggle a total of 29,200 across the Pergamos checkpoint near Larnaca. |
| With regard to the control of tax free schemes SBA Customs regulate, among other things, the sale of goods with limited imported stocks at Ermes stores on the island which supply the British residents with familiar products all tax free to entitled persons serving in the SBAs. SBACI also control the messes and clubs. All mail posted to BFPO addresses on the island is subject to inspection by the SBA Customs and they can, for example, question the legitimacy of parcels marked as "gifts" and charge duties and tax as appropriate. |
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| British Forces Cyprus |
| British Forces Cyprus (BFC) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK sovereign base areas of Dhekelia and Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus. The United Kingdom retains a military presence on the island in order to keep a strategic location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, for use as a staging point for forces sent to locations in the Middle East and Asia. BFC is a tri-service command, with all three services based on the island reporting to it. At present, there are approximately 3,500 personnel serving in Cyprus. |
| Following Cyprus gaining independence in 1960, the UK retained two Sovereign Base Areas in Akrotiri and Dhekelia and an RAF air marshal was appointed as the Administrator of the Sovereign Base Areas. The following year the British Forces Near East organization was created, the command of which was then held concurrently with that of the post of Administrator.[1] By 1962 the title British Forces in Cyprus was in official use. |
| Episkopi is the current command center of British Forces Cyprus. The commander of the Sovereign Base Areas/British Forces Cyprus (CBF) is either a Major General or an Air Vice Marshal, alternating every three years transferring the command between the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Consequently, the Deputy British Forces Cyprus (DBFC) is from the opposite service of the commander, either a Brigadier or an Air Commodore. |
Within British Forces Cyprus are a number of permanently based units; however, the large proportion of British forces in Cyprus are on operational tours:
Permanent Units HQ, British Forces Cyprus
Joint Service Signal Unit (Cyprus) (Ayios Nikolaos Station)
Cyprus Communications Unit, (an amalgamation of 12 Signals Unit RAF & 259 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals)
Cyprus Service Support Unit
No 84 Squadron, RAF
Resident infantry battalions - two light role infantry battalions, one at Dhekelia and one at Episkopi, are permanently based on the island; the battalions are usually rotated every two years. The two battalions stationed in Cyprus are the theatre reserve for Afghanistan 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) (Episkopi)
2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (Dhekelia) |
Cyprus Joint Police Unit (CJPU), a Tri-Service Military Police Unit consisting of Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and RAF Police. HQ CJPU - Episkopi
1 Platoon CJPU - Dhekelia
2 Platoon CJPU - Episkopi
3 Platoon CJPU - Akrotiri
SIB Cyprus
ESBA Section SIB |
Civilian Components Sovereign Base Areas Customs
Sovereign Base Areas Police
Security Force Police |
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