Supreme Court Decision (London): The British Bases (in Cyprus) are colonial remnants
Our American 'strategic partners' should be properly informed!
On 21.1.2026, the "New York Times" in a report from Davos regarding the "Greenland Agreement" included the following excerpt:
«One of the officials, who attended the meetings, compared the concept to the United Kingdom’s bases in Cyprus, which are regarded as British territory. A second official who was briefed on the discussions also confirmed that the idea for Greenland was modeled after the sovereign British bases in Cyprus».
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/us/politics/trump-greenland-threats-diplomacy-force.html
We do not know who those two ‘officials’ are, or whether the suggestion was passed to them by some other ‘officials’ from London!
The Supreme Court of the UK
The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on 25.2.2019 (Mauritius case) had already been preempted on 30 July 2018 by the very important and binding decision of the Supreme Court in London. The Court disagreed with the position of the then Home Office Secretary in London who supported that in 1960 the “Sovereign Base Areas” were converted into “new entities” that were “created” in 1960 and that they acquired a separate status. The Court concluded that the British Bases in Cyprus are colonial remnants.
Briefly, let me explain that the matter began in a Court in the British Bases (dealing with a different case but they needed to ascertain first whether the bases were “sovereign” or not) with three judges, two of whom supported the position of the Home Secretary. At the time in office was Theresa May who supported that in 1960 the bases were created as NEW ENTITIES, with the third Judge disagreeing with them. The matter reached the Court of Appeal in London which in 2017 disagreed with the two judges and agreed with the position of the one who maintained the position that they were not NEW ENTITIES but colonial remnants. Eventually the case reached the Supreme Court in London, which agreed with the one judge in the Bases and with the Court of Appeal. And on July 30, 2018, it rejected the position of then Home Secretary Sajid Javid (the third in office by then (Theresa May (2010-2016) Amber Rudd (2016-2018) Sajid Javid 2018-) and all successive Home Secretaries and ruled that the bases are indeed colonial remnants.
Justice Collender, the judge who dissented with the other two in Court in the "Sovereign Territories of the Bases" and the Home Secretary, in his decision, it is important to note that he used a passage from the legal Encyclopedia, as it is called, HALSBURY'S LAWS OF ENGLAND and which the Court of Appeal subsequently used as well, in agreeing with him. And which passage says:
«The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia consist of those portions of the colony of Cyprus that were not established by the Cyprus Act 1960 as the Independent Sovereign Republic of Cyprus and remain within Her Majesty's sovereignty and jurisdiction. They [i.e. the SBAs] are to be regarded, therefore, as constituting a colony acquired by conquest or cession as from 5 November 1914.»
MR JUSTICE COLLENDER also referred to the “Sovereign Base Areas” as « the rump of the British colony of Cyprus”.
Dr. Klearchos A. Kyriakides
Back on 14 November 2014, during a lecture in London Dr. Klearchos A. Kyriakides, explained:
“In view of the above, it may be stated that from the standpoint of both the constitutional law of the United Kingdom and public international law the island became a colony upon the its annexation on 5th November 1914. All of which explains why successive editions of Halsbury’s Laws of England (including the current edition) have included the following assertion: ‘The Island of Cyprus was a colony acquired by conquest or cession as from 5 November 1914.’34 The wording is explicable with reference to the annexation of 1914 (which effectively amounted to a conquest) and the Treaty of Lausanne 1923 (which might be interpreted as authorising a retrospective cession).
'Since 1960, the two British Sovereign Base Areas have represented the remnants of the colony which came into existence upon the annexation of 1914. Put another way, the British sovereignty which the United Kingdom continues to assert within the two Sovereign Base Areas, is 100 years old today.”
The Supreme Court's decision also vindicated Dr. Kyriakides, who in 2014 had reached the exact conclusion as the Supreme Court in 2018.
The British know full well the bases are not "sovereign"
The British released documents (in the British National Archives) revealed that the British themselves are the first to know that their bases are not "sovereign". In 1959, they used the technical term "sovereign" to shield their operations from any reactions from the natives in Cyprus. Ever since in various documents they acknowledge that their presence depends on the GOOD WILL OF THE CYPRIOTS.
In our book "Cyprus under the Hammer", which we published with my colleague Andreas Papaconstantinou in London in May 1991, we covered the released documents of the negotiations of the outstanding issues arising from the Zurich and London Agreements, primarily the bases. Our book was also used by lawyer and former Public Prosecutor of the Republic, Stelios Theodoulou, in an article in daily “Simerini” in Cyprus, on December 21, 1994 entitled “Are the British bases in Cyprus Colonies or remnants of colonialism?”. In his article the writer made special reference to the particularly revealing, document regarding the status of the British military bases in Cyprus, quoted in our book (from an official British document):
“The sovereign British bases, according to the Treaty, remain British territory and for reasons of international affairs will be like “colonies”, although internally the Republic will apply many of its governmental responsibilities. For political reasons, however, the word “colony” will be avoided. For the same reasons, the responsible department in Whitehall will not be the Colonial Office but the Air Ministry.”
Mr. Theodoulou in his article cited as References 1 and 2 “Official Foreign Office document with reference FO 371/152886 Air Ministry, June – July 1960, in the book “Cyprus under the Hammer” by F. Argyrou and A. Papakonstantinou, published 1991”.
Note: Later, the Air Ministry in London was dissolved and ever since responsible for the bases is the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom.
In 2019, Mr. Theodoulou made a second reference to the above British document in an interview to Natalie Michaelidou published in "Simerini" on March 3, 2019.
Half a century later, the Supreme Court came to confirm the colonial status of the bases in Cyprus…
Historical background
Negotiation of British accession to the EEC – Sir David Hannay
On 1.1.1973, the British official appointed head of the British negotiating team for the United Kingdom's accession to the then European Economic Community (EEC) today's European Union (EU), was none other than Sir David Hannay. It was he who convinced European officials to exclude the two British military bases in the Republic of Cyprus from membership in the European Economic Community, since in reality they are not “sovereign”. And on his persuasion they agreed to let the issue rest for re-discussion if and when the Republic of Cyprus applied for membership.
Years passed and in the 1990s although Sir David Hannay had retired, he was brought back to the Foreign Office not only to negotiate the Cyprus issue (“Annan/Hannay Plan” 2004) but also the membership of the Republic of Cyprus. Again leaving the base areas out …
It should be noted that at the time of the appearance of the “Annan/Hannay Plan” the British Government, in an attempt to lure the Cypriots into accepting the plan, promised to return a large part of the bases to the Republic of Cyprus.
However, the British Government is under obligation anyway, through the 1960 agreement with Archbishop Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kutsouk - bound by the signature of Sir Hugh Foot on behalf of the United Kingdom - to return to the Republic of Cyprus any part of those bases as and when it no longer need them for military purposes!
The thought of returning territories that the United Kingdom no longer needed as “sovereign military areas” began as early as mid-1960s and repeated in September 1974. During 1960s they admitted that they had taken a much larger percentage of territory than they needed. But they stood back from returning them especially Dhekelia base, fearing Turkish reactions. The Turks had told them that if and when they decide to return territories, Dhekelia should be given to them (statements by James Callaghan 1974 – they did not want to annoy the Turks!)
Previous articles on the subject:
*Researcher/journalist/author
Translation of article in Greek posted on SIMERINI website on 23.1.2026
The binding Agreement (exchange of notes) between Sir Hugh Foot and Archbishop Makarios and Dr. F. Kutchuk included in the Cyprus Constitution 1960.
