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26.02.2025 – The Union of Cypriots took part in the launch of CODEPINK’s new international campaign UK-US Bases Off Cyprus, amplifying the Cypriot voice in the struggle against Britain’s colonial military presence on the island. Speaking on behalf of the Union of Cypriots, Oz Karahan delivered a powerful address situating the British bases within the broader architecture of imperialism, linking them to the NATO-backed Turkish occupation, Zionist settler-colonialism, and decades of divide-and-rule strategies. He stressed that liberating Cyprus is not only essential for Cypriots, but also a decisive step toward weakening imperialism across West Asia and North Africa, and reaffirmed solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Among the other speakers were Jeremy Corbyn (Peace and Justice Project, Independent MP) and Matt Kennard (investigative journalist who reported on the role of RAF bases in Cyprus in facilitating the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza).
Below is the full speech delivered by Oz Karahan at the launch:
First of all, we would like to thank the organizers of this event and all the participants for being with us today. As an organization, it is important for us to see that the geopolitical significance of Cyprus in the global anti-imperialist struggle is receiving more attention from the international community.
When the Union of Cypriots was founded 15 years ago, we adopted a motto that we have consistently repeated in our international efforts, publications, and speeches: “Liberate Cyprus, Free West Asia and North Africa, Defeat Imperialism.” We have always emphasized that liberating Cyprus is not just important for Cypriots. It means cutting off the windpipe of imperialism in the entire region.
Today, many organizations are highlighting the fact that the presence of British bases in Cyprus facilitates the spread of imperialist terror across the region, especially after these bases were used against the most recent Palestinian resistance. We can talk, write, and campaign for days about how these bases are a threat and why they should be dismantled. But if we do not discuss why they are still there and how they can be removed, nothing will change. Eventually, when the current focus on the region fades, people will stop talking about both Palestine and Cyprus. We have seen this happen many times before.
Unfortunately, certain right-wing and so-called left-wing groups are deliberately attempting to separate the issue of the British military presence in Cyprus from the NATO-planned Turkish occupation of the island in 1974, which was designed to maintain the status quo. While 40 percent of Cyprus’ territory remains occupied by two major NATO powers, and while crimes against humanity such as Turkey’s settler colonization in collaboration with Zionists, mirroring the Palestinian experience, continue, these political formations attempt to exclude the liberation of Cyprus from the liberation of Palestine. They try to portray a semi-colonial state like Cyprus as a “sovereign Western country.” This is exactly the idea that Western imperialists promote and hide behind to shield themselves from their criminal actions and to maintain their power in Cyprus. It is also what Zionists want in order to further isolate the Palestinian struggle by cutting its ties to other liberation movements, like that of the Cypriots.
If we are going to discuss the British bases in Cyprus, we must recognize the three most important tools used to maintain them.
The first tool is the Treaty of Establishment and the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, both drafted by the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Greece. Though little known to the world, the Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960 after a heroic armed national liberation struggle. However, the documents I mention granted Turkey, Greece, and the United Kingdom the power to station military forces on the island while allowing Britain to claim sovereignty over its bases. The Cypriots who fought for liberation were forced to accept these terms, but they resisted from the very beginning. Makarios, the first President of Cyprus, who participated in the Bandung Conference with anti-colonial world leaders in 1955 even before Cyprus’ independence and was a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, made his stance clear. While visiting his close friend Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt in 1964, he declared: “We do not want any foreign bases. We do not want Greek bases, Turkish bases, British bases, NATO bases, any bases.”
This struggle by the Cypriot political leadership led imperialists to create the second tool, the Turkish occupation of Cyprus in 1974, which remains a key factor in maintaining the broader imperialist military presence on the island.
The third and most important tool of the imperialists is the so-called United Nations talks on the Cyprus issue, which have been deliberately engineered to maintain the status quo. While Cypriots were fighting for a truly independent Cyprus free of foreign bases, Turkey was already promoting an apartheid-style solution through proposals like a bicommunal bizonal federation. After the Turkish occupation, the so-called negotiation framework for Cyprus was established to discuss this bicommunal bizonal federation, allowing the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Greece to sit at this negotiation table for 50 years, continuing to this day. It is also important to note that the United Kingdom, the United States, Turkey, Greece, NATO, and every imperialist entity continue to support this apartheid proposal.
The strategy of the United Kingdom is clear, as it was for almost all of its colonies. Divide and rule is the name of this game. In 1936, the British colonial governor Richmond Palmer openly declared their strategy, stating, “In order to have ease in the future on the island, we have to continue the administration on the basis of opening the way to exceptions, on the basis of districts.” In other words, the colonial governor argued that politically segregating Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots through plans like a bicommunal bizonal federation or a two-state solution, and geographically segrageting them, is the way for British imperialists to maintain control over Cyprus.
History and the present realities on the ground show that fighting against the British military presence on the island requires the liberation of this semi-colonial state in its entirety. The Turkish-Zionist cooperation in the settler colonization of the occupied areas of Cyprus continues to serve as a tool for protecting the status quo. In 2024, one of the Zionists involved in building settlements on usurped Cypriot properties in the occupied areas of Cyprus was jailed in the free areas of Cyprus. The so-called President of the Zionist entity, Isaac Herzog, attempted multiple times to intervene in the legal process in Cyprus to free this individual. As the Union of Cypriots, we are the only organization from Cyprus that has highlighted this critical issue through an international campaign.
Before ending my speech, I want to emphasize that even though progressives around the world have only recently started paying attention to Cyprus due to the latest Palestinian resistance, the Union of Cypriots and Marxist-Leninist elements in the Palestinian resistance have been cooperating for years. One of the most significant developments took place just one month before October 7th on September 7th, when an international organization called the “International Anti-Imperialist United Front Against Fascism, War, and Environmental Destruction” was established.
At its first congress, six special resolutions were adopted. One was for Palestine and one for Cyprus, both co-signed by Palestinian and Cypriot delegates. The resolution on Cyprus supported the national, democratic, and class unity of Cypriots and opposed NATO solutions such as the bicommunal bizonal federation. It underlined that the independence of a unitary Cyprus is the only way to free the island from NATO bases and to liberate West Asia and North Africa. You can read the full resolution on our website under the “News and Statements” section.
We need to keep talking about Cyprus, and we need to keep talking about Palestine. On this occasion, I want to let people know that Cyprus also has a case at the International Criminal Court against the occupation and settler colonization. As anti-imperialists, we should support this. For years, protests were held right at the front door of the British bases in Cyprus by political parties and groups representing the political elite, and it almost became a meaningless spectacle. In 2024, on July 20th, the anniversary of the Turkish occupation of Cyprus, a united group of Cypriot citizens, called the Declaration of Pan-Cyprian Mobilization for the Freedom of Cyprus, for the first time in Cyprus’s history entered the British bases and protested against both the Turkish and British presence in Cyprus. The members of this group are now in danger of facing prosecution in their own homeland by British occupiers. We must show solidarity with them and organize real action like that. Right now, more than ever, we need to raise awareness. Because the actions of the international community – your actions – matter.
As an anti-imperialist organization, in alliance with Palestinian and international formations, we say clearly:
For the freedom of the peoples of West Asia and North Africa, there is only one anti-imperialist solution for both Cyprus and Palestine:
A liberated, unitary, democratic, and sovereign Palestine, from the river to the sea.
A liberated, unitary, democratic, and sovereign Cyprus, from Akamas to Karpas.
Cyprus for Cypriots! Palestine for Palestinians!
