Cyprus-Forum.com

[Hristos]

Do any of you here think England will eventually pull its bases out of Cyprus? Would that be a good or bad thing? The way I see it, there is 1 major pro and 1 major con. Pro: A lot more land for the Republic of Cyprus. It might compensate for its frustrations about the runaway TRNC having some of its old land. Con: If British bases leave, there won't be any landing pad for emergency peacekeeping forces and such.

Your views?

[Noname75]

There are a lot more cons than pros (if there are any pros at all).

Actually your "pro" is "con" the way I see it. Where does it benefit Cyprus that we are a landing pad for "peacekeeping" operations? This way we bacome a target for their enemies, which some are very close to us, and some have missiles, and even worst: those misiles are not very precise. So they might want to aim the british troops in Cyprus, and kill inocent Cypriots instead.

[Hristos]

You mean there are more "cons" to actually having bases in Cyprus, or more "cons" to removing the bases?

[Noname75]

I mean there are very few pros and a ton of cons. British bases serve the british interests, not ours.

[Hristos]

I agree with you. Britain shouldn't have bases in Cyprus. EOKA's job isn't 100 % done, in a way.

[Guest1]

EOKA's job in not done at all, since what thair aim was (and most Greek cypriots at the time) was to unite Cyprus with Greece.

Personally I believe the EOKA fight did more harm than good in the end.

[Hristos]

How come? Without EOKA Britain would still occupy all of Cyprus.

[Guest1]

After world war II the European powers lost most of their colonies. Using political ways I believe we could achieve a better solution. British got what they wanted- their bases, and do you think that the british have nothing to do with the Turkish invasion? Have you heard about the "divide and rule" policy that was (is?) a favorite one for the british?

[Hristos]

Actually the British might have fought against the Turks when they invaded, but Henry Kissinger asked them not to, and they obeyed.

I read this in a book.

[Noname75]

I doubt that the Bristish had any intentions of fighting against the Turks. If you see the map, you will notice that the Turks stoped and didn't enter the part the british bases are located.
The division served British interests better, since now we would need their support against the Turks, and we wouldn't dare to demand that their bases should leave.