More than half of voters in the Republic of Cyprus want to shut down British military bases on the eastern Mediterranean island, a new poll has found.
Britain still militarily occupies three per cent of Cyprus having refused to completely decolonise when granting independence to the rest of the island in 1960.
56 per cent of respondents said they now want the bases gone compared to 38 per cent who are in favour of them.
The figures reveal growing resentment towards the bases, with opposition up 14 points from 42 percent in 2024 and support falling by 12 points.
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation conducted the poll between 10-26 March asking 1,402 adults ahead of parliamentary elections in May.
It came in the wake of a drone strike on a US spy plane hangar within a British base on Cyprus near the start of the Iran war, which raised safety concerns.
However resentment to the bases has been growing since the Gaza genocide started in 2023.
Britain used its airbase at Akrotiri, the island’s southern peninsula, to stage hundreds of spy flights over Gaza, as well as sending military cargo planes to Israel and fighter jets to bomb Yemen.
The surveillance flights coincided with Israeli massacres of Palestinian civilians and the killing of three British aid workers in Gaza.
A series of protests took place at Akrotiri and outside the British High Commission in the capital Nicosia.
Meanwhile, annual demonstrations swelled at RAF Troodos , Britain’s GCHQ spy station on the summit of Cyprus. These marches were supported by AKEL, the main left-wing opposition party, who are hoping to challenge the incumbent centre-right DISY party.
The poll showed both parties tied on 18 percent.
ELAM, a far-right Greek nationalist party, is in third, with a majority of its voters opposed to the bases.
Anger at Akrotiri
Melanie Steliou, a parliamentary candidate for AKEL in Limassol, the constituency next to Akrotiri, told Declassified the poll “is interesting and quite clear. The number of Cypriots who do not want the British bases in Cyprus is increasing.”
However she felt the growth in opposition should have happened sooner, explaining that when the 2024 poll was taken, “Israel was well into its offensive in Gaza.”
Steliou added: “A percentage of Cypriots only realised this puts us in danger when the drone fell on Akrotiri in March this year. That says a lot about the normalisation the British forces have managed to achieve on the island. “The British government, through the mainstream media, is trying to push the narrative that the bases protect the Cypriots from Iranian drones. “They are not protecting Cyprus or the Cypriots. They are protecting their colonial assets which they use to destroy other countries. And this is what we should bear in mind and never give up the fight for true independence and decolonisation. “Not just for us but for all people across the globe who have been colonised and exploited by the Western imperial powers.”
Concern looks set to grow as the Ministry of Defence plans to expand its communications infrastructure at Akrotiri by building 32 new antennas.
Previous efforts to erect radio masts at the base sparked environmental and health concerns that led to a riot outside the base in 2001.
Cyprus’ president Nikos Christodoulides has said he wants to have “open and frank discussion with the British government” about the bases.
Opposition to British bases is growing globally, with Mauritius seeking to assert sovereignty over the Chagos Islands and politicians in Kenya accusing UK troops of a “ disturbing trend of sexual misconduct ”.
Pro-democracy campaigners in Bahrain continue to speak out against the UK naval base there despite risking torture from the country’s repressive monarchy.
The UK Foreign Office was asked to comment on the poll in Cyprus.
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