UK will modernise its communication capacity in Cyprus island

The UK will build a new communications facility on one of two bases it maintains on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, a British Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman on Friday explained that the purpose of the “small-scale infrastructure project” is to “modernise communications infrastructure and increase our resilience.”

The spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, gave no further details.

The bases incorporate a large airfield at Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri and an important electronic intelligence gathering station at Ayios Nicolaos situated around 175 kilometers (109 miles) from Syria's Mediterranean coastline.

Britain has been keen in projecting its military strength in the region since it exited the European Union on February 1, 2020, with large naval deployments including its newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, from which cutting-edge F-35 jets operate.

British warplanes have also flown from RAF Akrotiri to assist in the fight against the Daesh terror group in Syria and Iraq.

The UK retained the bases when Cyprus gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960. 

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots in south and Turkish Cypriots in the north, despite a series of diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Turkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkiye, Greece and the UK.

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