By Bouli Hadjioannou
THE AKROTIRI area has been earmarked as the alternative to the Akamas for future British military exercises, Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides revealed yesterday.
He told the House Environment Committee the sites were “within and outside the British base of Akrotiri.”
Talks with the British were progressing well and Cassoulides expressed the hope they would “soon reach a positive conclusion.”
Neither he nor new Defence Minister George Charalambides could say when a decision would be reached. But National Guard Commander Nikolaos Vorvolakos indicated the new site could be in use next year.
The issue was raised in light of the current exercises in the Akamas and the House of Representatives’ unanimous resolution last Thursday urging the government not to allow the British to train in the area.
Edek deputy Yiannakis Omirou said the government should have made formal approaches to Britain, and not restricted itself to contacts with the bases to locate an alternative site.
Cassoulides said the government shared concern about the need to protect the peninsula. It had focused on locating an alternative to Akamas in order to avoid finding itself in the position of having to weigh Cyprus’s obligations under the Treaty of Establishment and national interests against environmental concerns.
“Our position has been that exercises should stop in the Akamas, provided an alternative site is found,” he said.
The National Guard has recently proposed sites “within and outside the Akrotiri bases”. They need to be examined to determine their suitability, ownership, farming, housing, and whether training would create new environmental problems, he said.
Cassoulides said it was important for the government to show it was seriously looking for a viable alternative.
This has helped persuade the British not to schedule exercises in the Akamas for December or January, and there was hope the same would apply to February, he said.
Defence Minister Charalambides said the proposed site appeared to open the door to a solution, adding the British realised they were no longer tolerated in the Akamas.
National Guard chief Vorvolakos said the sites had been chosen in such a way as not to affect Cyprus’s own defence interests. Asked when the site could be ready, he said that once the aspects of ownership were cleared it would take a few months only.
The news received a mixed welcome. Omirou said he did not disagree with the consultations, but said the government could have made an official demarche.
Diko’s Nicos Moushiouttas said the House should take a critical look at its own failure to pursue the issue as effectively as possible.
Independent deputy Marios Matsakis said he saw no reason why the government had to find an alternative site just because environmental concerns dictated British troops should not exercise in the Akamas.
And he had harsh words for police officers at scene who he said had misled everyone by claiming there was no one in the training area.
“We have proof, videos, this target that I myself brought from within the range, that there were people within the training area when live ammunition was used,” he said waving a poster of a soldier that he said was the target.
