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Britain offers land to help Cyprus talks, UN says
“The special adviser of the secretary-general on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, has just been informed that the United Kingdom is renewing an offer to the United Nations to cede a portion of its territory in the Sovereign Base Areas [SBAs] to a reunified Cyprus,” the UN said in a statement. British officials had no immediate comment on the statement.
The long-running Cyprus conflict is a key source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey and is hindering Turkey’s membership talks with the EU. The Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides started peace talks in September 2008. The British offer is a bid to help a process fraught with difficulties, and which has seen many failures.
“I believe it is an offer to be welcomed as a tangible demonstration of the goodwill and support of the international community to the two leaders in Cyprus in their efforts to reunify the country,” Jose Diaz, the United Nations spokesman in Cyprus told Reuters.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat declined to comment on the British offer on Wednesday, saying it would be taken up in detail when the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides begin discussing distribution of land as part of their ongoing talks to reunite the island. “It appears to be an initiative aimed at removing Greek Cypriot reluctance [in the reunification talks],” he told reporters ahead of a session in the Turkish Cypriot Parliament to discuss the Cyprus peace efforts. Initial reactions from Greek Cypriots seemed lukewarm. “What Britain can do if it wants to effectively help this process is to exert influence and encourage Turkey to be more accommodating on the talks,” said Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou.
The offer came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was scheduled to meet Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias in London on Wednesday. Britain gave up Cyprus in 1960, but retained two strategic pockets of territory -- on prime undeveloped real estate -- which account for about 3.0 percent of the island’s territory. The offer would be for a handover of 45 square miles, just under half of the 98 square miles (254 square kilometers) that Britain now controls, the UN said.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots are attempting to find a power-sharing formula under a federal system and settling property disputes from years of partition. Territorial adjustments, which have in previous peace blueprints been in favor of the numerical majority Greek Cypriots, would be a key element in any deal. Turkish Cypriots now control some 37 percent of Cypriot territory. The 2003 British offer had been incorporated into a United Nations blueprint rejected by Greek Cypriots in a 2004 referendum.
On the basis of the 2003 offer, most of the territory Britain would have relinquished would have gone to Greek Cypriots in the south of the island.
Only part of the British territory in Cyprus is used exclusively for military purposes. It includes a large number of Greek Cypriot farming communities living under British civilian administration.
The ratio of land ownership within the British bases is 60 percent privately owned, 20 percent Crown land and 20 percent owned by the British Ministry of Defense. Britain’s RAF Akrotiri air base has been used in the past as a supply post for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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