Britain says no nuclear weapons at Akrotiri now

THERE are no nuclear weapons on the British bases in Cyprus, a British Defence Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the British spokesman said that aircraft now using the bases did not carry nuclear weapons, but he declined to comment on 30-year-old British documents released at the weekend, which said Britain’s defence “rests ultimately on the global nuclear deterrent, of which the United Kingdom’s forces in Cyprus are a part”.

The documents also said that, in 1969, military aircraft based at Akrotiri had been carrying nuclear bombs.

President Clerides on Monday confirmed there might have been nuclear weapons stored at the British bases in the past, but said the Cyprus government was not informed.

Clerides said there was a time when the government had some indication that nuclear weapons were probably on the bases, but added “things have changed”.

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.