CYPRUS’ Chief European Union Negotiator George Vassiliou left yesterday for Brussels to take part in a three-day conference on the status of the British Bases after the island’s accession.
Britain, a guarantor power of Cyprus’ Independence, maintains two bases in Cyprus under the 1960 Treaty of Establishment, at Episkopi and Dhekelia, covering a total area of 99 square miles.
The Brussels meeting is being held to discuss how the bases can continue to exist inside a member state and the question of whether they should pull out is not on the agenda, bases spokesman Tony Brumwell told the Cyprus Mail.
“I don’t think that question is even on the agenda,” he said “It’s more of a case of making sure that the Republic of Cyprus doesn’t lose out in any terms from the bases existing on the same land mass once they accede to the EU and if there is a solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said.
Brumwell said the meeting had been planned for some time. “It’s just a natural extension of the tripartite talks and the bases are being represented along with the EU desk from London,” he said. “It’s a way for government to keep people, and the EU Commission, aware and appraised of the talks process and any impact it would have in the event of a settlement and the relationship with the bases.”
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash also commented on the meeting yesterday. Commenting on reports in the Greek Cypriot press, Denktash said: “They would have no right to change the guarantorship system.” Turkey along with Greece is a guarantor of the island’s independence.
“The British told us that routine affairs are being discussed,” he said. “However if something different appears naturally they will receive a reaction.”
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.
