Cyprus-Forum.com

[boulio]

I was reading up on the recent agreement between the ROC and GB concerning the bases and the recent statements by eroglu that the tc don't agree with the agreement ,I was wondering if anyone had more details of the agreement and I know many powers were transfered to the ROC which all but make them cypriot again are the British actually preparing for the actual full transfer .

[Maximus]

I know it is a much better situation for Cypriots than it was before but does anyone who is anyone even listen to that stupid anti-Cypriot oaf?

[Tim Drayton]

We can only speculate, but just as 1971 saw Britain withdraw from "East of Suez", perhaps a withdrawal from "East of Gibraltar" is now on its way. The UK can no longer play at being a world power.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Here's the full text of the recent agreement ... to follow below.

I'm not sure how 'good' it is to have signed this Agreement since the main problem of non-payment of rent has not been addressed. Until that's done, this freeloading by the UK is insulting to both governments. However, any acknowledgement that the UK has been recognized as having a right to these Bases, by extending the 'Agreement' of 1960 (presumably this time, the GCs have signed freely ), is nullified if the UK does not do her bit and pay up.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Arrangement between the Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland relating to the regulation of development in the Sovereign Base Areas

The Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, jointly referred to as ‘the Governments’,

RECALLING the Exchange of Notes between the Governments concerning the administration of the Sovereign Base Areas, dated 16 August 1960, and the declaration attached thereto (‘The Declaration’) by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

NOTING that Her Majesty’s Government declared in the Declaration that the main objects to be achieved were:
(1) Effective use of the Sovereign Base Areas as military bases;
(2) Full co-operation with the Republic of Cyprus;
(3) Protection of the interests of those resident or working in the Sovereign Base Areas;

NOTING the strongly expressed desire of the residents of the Sovereign Base Areas (“SBAs”)for greater flexibility in relation to non-military development;

NOTING the view of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that this desire can be addressed within the spirit of the Declaration and in a way compatible with its military needs;

NOTING the strong wish of the Governments to work closely together to respond to that desire;

CONSIDERING that certain elements of the Declaration, including in relation to non-military development, need to be adjusted to give better effect to the main objects of the Declaration;

HAVE REACHED the following Arrangement regarding non-military development in the SBAs:

SECTION 1
(a) The competent authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, in consultation with and subject to the consent of the competent authorities of the SBA administration, will define planning zones and relevant planning policies for the areas mentioned in Section 1 of Annex A of the Treaty Concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus (‘Treaty of Establishment’), with the exception of land designated as military sites, being that land that is owned or leased by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (as distinct from the SBA administration) as indicatively shown on the attached maps.

(b) Where the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
decides to dispose of land which is designated as a military site or gives up its lease
thereto, the said land will cease being designated as a military site and will be
subject to the relevant provisions of this Arrangement. Where new land is acquired
or leased by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland in the SBAs, it will be designated as a military site and will be excluded from
the relevant provisions of this Arrangement.

(c) The Government of the Republic of Cyprus may, in exceptional cases of public
interest, request the inclusion in the planning zones and relevant planning policies as
provided for in Section 1(a) of land which is exempted therefrom and the
Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will give
sympathetic consideration to this request, taking into consideration its military
requirements.

SECTION 2

Subject to the provisions of Section 1, the procedures normally implemented in the Republic
of Cyprus for the determination or the amendment of planning zones and planning policies
will be applied for the purposes of defining or amending the planning zones and planning
policies mentioned in that Section, in particular as regards the participation of local
authorities and the general public, in order to promote the principles of transparency and
public participation.

SECTION 3

The competent authorities of the Republic of Cyprus that will undertake the planning
procedure, in consultation with the SBA administration, will have the full support of the SBA
administration, where appropriate, including the provision of available data, plans, maps
and other information needed for the purpose of preparing the planning zones and planning
policies as set out in Section 1.

SECTION 4

Planning zones and policies defined in accordance with Sections 1 and 2 will be given effect,
as necessary, through SBA legislation and will be published.

SECTION 5

The competent authorities of the Republic of Cyprus will consider and grant or refuse
building and land parcellation permits under the relevant SBA legislation, subject to the
prior consent of the competent authorities of the SBA administration, and investigate
compliance and non-compliance with that legislation. Consideration of the planning aspects
of individual development or building proposals will also be undertaken by the competent
authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, in accordance with SBA legislation.

SECTION 6

The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will not itself set up civilian commercial or industrial enterprises except in so far as these are connected with military requirements but the establishment within the SBAs of civilian commercial or industrial enterprises will be allowed where consistent with the planning zones and planning policies set out in Section 1 and with any other relevant law in the SBAs. The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will also give sympathetic consideration to any proposals from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to establish public utilities or other public services in the SBAs.

SECTION 7

(a) Citizens of the Republic of Cyprus will continue to have the right to own land in the SBAs.

(b) The SBA administration will accord other EU nationals and nationals of third countries the right to own land in the SBAs on, as far as is possible, the same basis as those rights are accorded to such persons in the Republic of Cyprus. The Land Registry of the Republic of Cyprus will continue to perform in relation to land within the SBAs all the functions that it currently performs.

(c) There will continue to be freedom of access to the SBAs to the extent envisaged in the Declaration and in compliance with relevant EU obligations. The SBA administration will permit persons to remain within the SBAs, other than for temporary purposes, only in so far as those persons are permitted to remain in the Republic of Cyprus, unless exceptional circumstances require otherwise.

SECTION 8

(a) The Republic of Cyprus will, for all persons within the SBAs (other than Excluded Persons), provide public services provided for Cypriots within the SBAs and perform administrative duties performed for Cypriots within the SBAs on the basis set out in Paragraph 4 of the Declaration.

(b) Arrangements will be made to enable legal proceedings concerning civil rights and obligations in which none of the parties are Excluded Persons to take place within the Courts of the Republic, and for the enforcement within the SBAs of the judgments and orders of such Courts in such proceedings.

(c) Arrangements will also be made to enable certain criminal proceedings in which neither the complainant nor the accused is an Excluded Person to be tried by the Courts of the Republic.

(d) Persons tried in the Courts of the Republic in pursuance of such arrangements will, if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, serve their sentences in the prisons of the Republic.

(e) The Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the SBA administration will also examine what further measures might assist in ensuring the effective operation of the criminal justice system across the jurisdictions of the Republic and the SBAs.

(f) The Republic of Cyprus will, as far as possible, accord all persons within the SBAs (other than Excluded Persons) the same rights to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections as would be accorded were they within the Republic of Cyprus.

(g) In this Section an “Excluded Person” means any person who is not a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus and is in the SBAs by reason only of the use of the SBAs as military bases by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

SECTION 9

Any new requirements for public infrastructure arising in the planning zones and from planning policies defined in accordance with Section 1, including but not limited to public roads, public utility services and public green spaces, and the maintenance thereof, will be undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus. Where this infrastructure is necessary for the military requirements of the UK, the expenditure will be shared fairly between the Governments. Where public infrastructure is not necessary for UK military purposes but a benefit may arise, the Governments will consider how to share fairly the expenditure.

SECTION 10

(a) Where the Government of the United Kingdom and/or the SBA administration is, as a result of a Court decision which has become final, called upon to pay to any third party compensation or damages as a result of a decision, act or omission in which officers, authorities or bodies of the Republic of Cyprus have participated when carrying out functions arising out of this Arrangement on behalf of the SBA administration, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus will indemnify the Government of the United Kingdom and/or the SBA administration, as applicable, up to a level which is fair under the circumstances.

(b) Where the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or the SBA administration becomes aware of any proceedings or likely proceedings which may give rise to a payment which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus should indemnify, there will be full co-operation between them as regards the conduct of any proceedings or the response to such a claims and in particular on the appropriate amount (if any) of any compensation claimed or paid or expenses incurred.

SECTION 11

(a) The Declaration by Her Majesty’s Government regarding the Administration of the Sovereign Base Areas, which was the subject of an exchange of notes between the Governments on 16th August 1960, will continue to the extent that its provisions are not incompatible with those of the present Arrangement.

(b) This Arrangement is not to be interpreted so as to conflict with any international obligations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of the SBAs.

(c) Except where otherwise expressly provided or where the context so requires, terms defined in the Treaty of Establishment have the same meaning when used in this Arrangement.

SECTION 12

A Joint Cooperation Committee will be established to enable ongoing consultation and facilitate co-operation to ensure the effective implementation of this Arrangement.

SECTION 13

Any dispute arising between the Governments concerning the interpretation or the implementation of this Arrangement will be settled first through negotiations within the Joint Cooperation Committee or, failing that, through negotiation between the Governments.

SECTION 14

This Arrangement may be amended at any time by the mutual written consent of the Governments.

SECTION 15

The present Arrangement will enter into effect upon signature.

IN WITNESS whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Arrangement.
Signed in duplicate in London this 15th day of January 2014 in the English language.
………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………

For the Government of the ......................... For the Government of the United Kingdom
Republic of Cyprus .....................................of Great Britain and Northern Ireland



http://media.philenews.com/PDF/British_Bases.pdf

[GreekIslandGirl]

It’s high time the UK paid up for bases

By Yiorghos Leventis

THE CURRENT financial crisis vexing Cyprus makes the history -and sharp-eyed observer ponder over the recent course of the small Mediterranean state’s financial and political troubles, more often than not the two being inextricably intertwined. To put it in plain words, the birth of the Republic of Cyprus was imperfect by design, hence the new state was mutilated, incapacitated by birth.

It has been described as the stillborn Republic. Burdened by a cumbersome constitution designed to serve the interests of the principal minority – the Turkish – and the neo-colonial overlord rather than the interests of the Greek overwhelming majority, the young state already in 1963-64 was deprived of its means of subsistence.

The Turkish Cypriot delegates holding an inexplicable to any well-meaning constitutional analyst, separate majorities prerogative, bent on promoting segregation, refused to pass bills of financial nature. Consequently, the state machinery was paralyzed as the stillborn state was intentionally deprived of the legal apparatus to collect taxes, so vital for the coverage of costs involved in its basic smooth functioning. All the more so that the young RoC had to finance the creation of new institutions.

Strategically located, the island has been suffering under an all but name neo-colonial regime. The Treaty of its Establishment constitutes a remarkable drawback in the annals of constitutional history, unique in its tortuous provisions for the ill-conceived protection of the principal minority and the equally suspicious provisions for the extended privileges of the British Armed Forces that were to remain in eternity (?) and continue to use unobstructed the land, sea and airspace of the crippled-by-birth statelet. In Appendix P (Future of Sovereign Base Areas) of the said Treaty, the British Representative makes it abundantly clear in an Exchange of Notes to Archbishop Makarios and Dr. Kutchuk that the UK do not intend to relinquish their sovereignty or effective control over the SBAs and that therefore the question of their cession does not arise.

Furthermore, the shameful Treaty of Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus abounds in provisions that tie down the future governments of the RoC to servility to the British neo-colonial overlords. Apart from the two SBAs the UK enjoys use of a host of other installations scattered around the territory of the island designated in the ToE as ‘retained sites’. But should it be so after the RoC’s full accession to the UN and, more recently, to the EU?

Whichever side of the above argument one takes, there has always been, a huge moral and an enormous financial dimension to the use of military, surveillance and espionage facilities by the UK in Cyprus.

The UK government recognized this moral and financial debt in Appendix R of the ToE. In the Exchange of Notes between the British representative and Archbishop Makarios and Dr. Kutchuk the former committed his government ‘to pay to the RoC, by way of grant, the sum of 12 million pounds sterling during the five years ending on the 31st March, 1965′.

A year earlier the UK terminated its financial assistance payments leaving them in abeyance for half a century by now.

London has been arguing ever since that the RoC’s constitutional order collapsed in December 1963, their Turkish Cypriot protégés withdrew from the Cypriot government hence there is no bi-communal administration to administer the agreed financial assistance, the level of which, importantly, was to be reviewed in regular five year periods according to Subparagraph (c) of Appendix R, ToE, 1960. The agreed text specifies that taking all factors into account, including the financial assistance requirements of the Government of the Republic, shall, after full consultation with the Government of the Republic, determine the amount of financial aid to be provided …

Putting the examination of the UK’s share of responsibility in the tragic dismemberment of Cyprus aside; for the sake of focusing on our argument: it is high time that the UK government fulfilled its huge moral responsibility undertaken in 1960 to come to the financial aid of the RoC, all factors taken into account.

In the fifty plus years that lapsed since the conclusion of the ToE which legally endorsed the retention of British military bases, the Cypriot governments never challenged the existence of the SBAs, despite their unpopularity among the Cypriot public and in spite of their half-a-century use endangering the good relations that the lilliputian and crippled RoC enjoyed with friendly neighbouring and other nations.

The Cypriots respectfully have done their part of this uneven, if not shameful, deal, despite the change of times: nowhere in the world does a nation retain bases without the payment of rent and the agreed periodic review and hence re-negotiation of the terms of their use – with the exception of Guantanamo but then again there is no agreement between the Cuban and the US governments. Quite the opposite in the case of the British Cyprus bases where the agreement to retain them, i.e. the Treaty of Establishment forms at the same time the birth certificate of the RoC. But is it a Treaty establishing a sovereign state or a treaty establishing a sovereign base in the end?

Dr Yiorghos Leventis is Director of the Nicosia-based independent think tank International Security Forum www.inter-security-forum.org

http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/06/22/its-h ... for-bases/