{"id":614663,"date":"2026-06-01T03:56:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T03:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/614663\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T03:56:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T03:56:03","slug":"cyprus-seeks-to-farage-proof-its-uk-military-bases-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/614663\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyprus seeks to Farage-proof its UK military bases \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following the strike, President Nikos Christodoulides <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cy7166denxeo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">called for talks on the future of the \u201ccolonial\u201d bases<\/a>, with Cypriot diplomats expressing \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0e55y0pzgwo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">disappointment<\/a>\u201d at the lack of information-sharing around the incident.<\/p>\n<p>It also reopened the issue of how Britain should be allowed to use the bases, with Cyprus calling on the support of fellow EU countries.<\/p>\n<p>In March, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/en\/press\/press-releases\/2026\/03\/19\/european-council-conclusions-on-middle-east\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">European Council gathering EU leaders said<\/a> it &#8220;acknowledges the intention of Cyprus to initiate a discussion with the UK on the UK bases in Cyprus and stands ready to provide assistance as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2272071320-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8517665\"  \/>Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides speaks to the media ahead of a European Council summit in Ayia Napa on April 23, 2026. | Nicolas Tucat\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Marc Weller, director of the international law program at Chatham House, said: \u201cCyprus argues that the U.K. only retained more limited authority relating to defense. While the U.K. view [of full sovereignty] is legally correct, the Iran episode will offer an opportunity for Cyprus to reignite this debate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Farage factor<\/p>\n<p>Cypriot concerns worsened after Farage initially backed the use of overseas British bases, such as those in Cyprus and the Chagos archipelago, for offensive strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Days later, however, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/uk-nigel-farage-fumbles-iran-war-becomes-cost-of-living-issue\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appeared to backtrack<\/a>. \u201cIf we can\u2019t even defend Cyprus, let\u2019s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war,\u201d Farage said, raising fresh questions about what a Reform-led government would do in power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the strike, President Nikos Christodoulides called for talks on the future of the \u201ccolonial\u201d bases, with Cypriot&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5704,817,459,10521,140,141,142,461,59,57,58,585,1805,420,632,151,50,633,471,56,146566,54,158,55,636,163220],"class_list":["post-614663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-conflict","tag-cooperation","tag-crisis","tag-cyprus","tag-defense","tag-donald-trump","tag-drones","tag-elections","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-iran","tag-john-healey","tag-keir-starmer","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-nigel-farage","tag-safety","tag-uk","tag-uk-defense","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-war","tag-war-in-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}