THE BRITISH bases yesterday denied scuppering an agreement with Cyprus to allow testing of electromagnetic radiation levels from aerials at the Akrotiri base before a massive new antenna goes up.
The tests were agreed to by Britain and Cyprus after local residents expressed fears the new antenna would affect their health. But the Foreign Ministry claimed on Friday that the bases had pulled the plug on the deal by announcing that preparatory work for erecting the new aerial would begin tomorrow. The Ministry said this work would get in the way of the radiation tests, which were also due to start tomorrow.
Bases Spokesman Rob Need yesterday said the Cyprus government had had ample opportunity to carry out tests, and would still have plenty of opportunity to do so in the future.
“We have always, for the last three years, been saying that we would start work at the beginning of July, and we have offered the facility for testing for the last three months,” Need said.
He said the work beginning tomorrow was only preparatory: “The new antenna will not be erected for another two years at least.”
Need said that despite the start of preparatory work, the plans for the new antenna would be scrapped if emissions tests indicated dangerous radiation levels. “We do not want to put our people at risk, let alone our villagers,” Need said.
The bases have always insisted their aerials do not pose a health risk. “Our environmental assessments show that the levels of radiation are completely and totally safe at the edge of the (antennas) site, and completely negligible and pose no risk to health at the village,” Need said. Akrotiri village is two kilometres away from the aerials site.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
