British Bases in Cyprus
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British bases occupy 3% of Cyprus land, encompassing villages, towns, and schools within sovereign British areas, affecting the local Cypriot population.  During the Israel-Iran conflict, the village of Akrotiri, from which the bases take their name, was evacuated entirely, with schools closed and residents seeking refuge with family or in monasteries.

Kiriakou, who describes himself as a quarter Cypriot, says the U.S. maintained a weapons embargo against Cyprus for 46 years, a fact he says 99.9% of Americans have no idea about, imposed largely because Cyprus refused to fully toe the American line on issues like Soviet-type weapons for Ukraine. He credits Britain and France, not the United States, with insisting Cyprus deserved the ability to defend itself against Turkish expansionism, arguing Cyprus's prosperity, democratic government, and Western orientation exist despite rather than because of American support.

On a 2026 visit to Nicosia, Kiriakou recounted checking into his hotel after dark and stepping onto the balcony to call a Cypriot friend, only to look up and see the Turkish flag lit up on the occupied northern side of the city, "these bastards," he said. He described the British-built bases as part of a landscape in which Greek Cypriots have, over the past decade, begun winning lawsuits in the European Court of Justice against British retirees who bought confiscated Cypriot land in the Turkish-occupied north, land that, he notes, is not Turkey's to sell.
