Recent international media reports suggest that after talks with NATO leaders, US President Donald Trump has considered establishing American military bases in Greenland, possibly using the United Kingdom’s long-standing facilities in Cyprus as a model.
The British base arrangement in Cyprus dates to 1960, when the island became independent. The Treaty of Establishment that created the Republic of Cyprus also retained two areas—Akrotiri and Dhekelia—under British sovereignty. Together the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) cover about 254 square kilometres (98 square miles), roughly 3% of the island.
Under the treaty the UK was not required to pay rent for the bases; instead it agreed to provide a grant to the new republic. Cypriot records indicate that this grant was paid only for five years and that Britain suspended payments in 1965, citing changed circumstances after intercommunal violence on the island.
Tensions between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities escalated over the next decade and culminated in 1974 with a Greek-backed coup and a Turkish military intervention. The island has remained divided since, with the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus in the south (an EU member) and a self-declared Turkish Cypriot administration in the north that lacks broad recognition.
More than sixty years after independence, Akrotiri and Dhekelia remain under full British control. They have their own administration, legal system and courts; the British Forces Cyprus act as the local authority and report directly to the UK Ministry of Defence. The Administrator of the Bases holds powers to enact laws deemed necessary for the “peace, order and good governance” of the areas.
When Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, Protocol No. 3 of the Accession Treaty preserved the SBAs’ special status by excluding them from the EU acquis communautaire. In practice the bases are therefore not subject to the body of EU legislation that applies in the rest of Cyprus.
The Treaty of Establishment also imposes limits on how the SBAs may be used. As legal scholars in Cyprus have observed, the UK committed to specific obligations that restrict certain activities within the bases. The treaty bars development of the areas for non-military purposes, forbids customs barriers between the Republic and the bases, prohibits commercial or industrial enterprises inside the SBAs, and disallows construction of civilian ports or airports. Entry and exit between the bases and the Republic of Cyprus remain unrestricted.
Estimates put the SBAs’ population at around 18,000 people, of whom roughly 11,000 are Cypriot citizens; the remainder are British military personnel and their families. People who lived in the areas when they were designated in 1960 were allowed to remain, and the absence of border controls means everyday life for many residents is only minimally disrupted.
Although many operational details are not public, British media and other reporting have linked Akrotiri and Dhekelia to RAF and allied operations in conflicts such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza. On such occasions the government in Nicosia routinely stresses that it is not involved in military actions launched from the SBAs and has no control over them. In 2024 a government spokesman reiterated that Cyprus is “not involved in military operations” and noted that under the Treaty of Establishment Britain is not obliged to inform Cypriot authorities about activities carried out within the bases.
Public sentiment in Cyprus reflects persistent unease about the bases. Anti-war demonstrations and the revived post-colonial slogan “Bases out of Cyprus” are the most visible expressions of discontent. The issue has not become a dominant platform item for most mainstream parties, but some politicians, lawyers and former officials have called for revisiting the arrangements.
Former attorney-general Costas Clerides has described the bases’ status as “unacceptable” and a remnant of colonialism, urging negotiations with Britain to amend the SBAs’ legal status. Clerides and others point to international legal developments—most notably the International Court of Justice’s 2019 advisory opinion in Mauritius v. United Kingdom and a following UN General Assembly resolution on the Chagos Archipelago—as potential precedents that could strengthen Cyprus’s position.
The renewed global discussion about basing in places such as Greenland has reignited interest in the Cyprus example: how a former colonial power maintains sovereign military footholds on territory that is otherwise independent, how those areas are governed and constrained by treaty, and how the host state and local populations coexist with such arrangements. Whether the United States will pursue a model resembling the UK’s bases in Cyprus remains uncertain and will depend on diplomatic, legal and domestic political considerations in the countries involved.