US seeks major military base on united
Cyprus By Iason
Athanasiadis
ATHENS - It has been more than 50 years
since the sophisticated surveillance equipment sitting
atop Mount Troodos - the highest point on Cyprus - began
scouring the airwaves across the Middle East, the
Caucasus and Central Asia. Tirelessly, the huge dishes
and antennas of the secret base have scanned electronic
and radio signals, intercepting commercial, diplomatic
and military communications wherever the West maintains
interests.
"In some American facilities in
Nicosia - such as the yard of the United States Embassy
in Lefkosia and what you might call the agricultural
center on the hill - you see some very weird antennas,"
said an Athens-based strategic analyst speaking to Asia
Times Online on condition of anonymity. "They are used
for tactical intelligence, monitoring Arab radio
broadcasts and then transcribing and translating them
for policymakers in Washington."
Now Washington
wants to upgrade its half-century intelligence presence
on the island into a full-fledged army base when - and
if - the Greek and Turkish Cypriots sides agree on
reunification. The Pentagon might begin by establishing
a "bare-bones" military presence on the eastern
Mediterranean island, following the possible
reunification of the divided country, according to
strategic analysts. That would facilitate US military
interventions in the region.
That goal appears
distant as both Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have
urged their communities to reject a United Nations
reunification plan. Two referendums - one for each
community - will be conducted April 24. If either side
rejects the plan, then only the Greek Cypriot south will
join the European Union on May 1.
The United Kingdom and the United
States have had intelligence interests in the strategically
placed island ever since the dawn of the Cold
War era. Today, the US has incorporated Cyprus into its
global Echelon surveillance network as an early-warning
post and listening station for communications
across the region. Experts interviewed by Asia
Times Online said that an intelligence-sharing agreement
with Britain and a listening post in the
Turkish-occupied north of the island are being used by
the US in the war against terrorism.
"Cyprus
played a crucial role in the western defense system by
acting as an electronic ear for the whole of the
Mediterranean," said Marios Evriviades, a former Cypriot
diplomat who is now a senior associate at the
prestigious Panteion University's Institute of
International Relations in Athens.
If the
eastern Mediterranean receded in
significance after the Cold War - when
it was feared that an unopposed Russian advance south would turn
the area into a "Red Lake" - the advent of the
"war on terrorism" has brought it back onto western policymakers' radars.
The ongoing US occupation of Iraq, the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) expansion east, terrorist
attacks in Turkey and increasing pressure on Syria have
all combined to put Cyprus back on the map as a key
intelligence and logistics center.
"It's
important that Cyprus not fall into hostile hands," a
British security analyst said. "It's important to deny
Cyprus to hostile powers."
There are high stakes
in the region for Washington, not least of which are the
energy markets of the Persian Gulf and North Africa, a booming
military presence throughout the Caucasus and the
ambitious Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Should Cyprus
evolve into an island of stability in the region, it
could prove to be the ideal position from which to
monitor the shifting tectonic plates of international
diplomacy.
"The US has embarked on a
generational project to promote liberal reforms in the
Middle East," said John Sitilides, director of the
Washington-based Western Policy Center. "Cyprus will be
transformed into a beacon of what it can mean for the
whole Middle East."
"I have had strong
indications that, following reunification, a whole host
of other solutions will follow in the region," he said.
If Cyprus is to serve as an example to
underperforming Arab countries, then its entry - or
that of its Greek Cypriot south - into the European
Union on May 1 could be the event that kick-starts the
process.
"Cyprus is a country the size of
Switzerland and can rapidly attain its status in the
region," said Sitilides. "It could become an offshore
financial and services center; Turkish Cypriots could be
brought up to speed with the assistance of high-tech
giants such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems; a
knowledge economy can be established that spans the
eastern Mediterranean and serves the Balkans, Turkey and
the Arab world."
The island sits astride key
shipping routes and occupies a vital position in the
eastern Mediterranean. At its northern tip, it faces the
Turkish energy hub of Ceyhan while its southern
extremity is just 200 kilometers from Egypt's strategic
Suez Canal. Commerce aside, whoever controls Cyprus also
has the strategic option of blocking access to Turkish
ports, hence Ankara's insistence on keeping troops on
the island even beyond unification.
A more
permanent presence Washington hopes that eventual reunification
will open opportunities for a military presence,
in addition to its well-established intelligence-gathering
activities."No one can say with
certainty that there has been a deal between Turkey and
the USA regarding an American military presence," said a
European diplomat in Istanbul, speaking to Asia Times
Online on condition of anonymity. "The possibility hangs
in the atmosphere, it depends upon what turn the
negotiations [on reunification] take."
The base
would be similar to those the Pentagon is constructing
throughout strategic locations in East Africa and
Central Asia. A possible move to Cyprus would be in
harmony with the current realignment of the US presence
in Europe, from Germany to Eastern Europe, while
maintaining the focus of military operations on the
Middle East.
Both Greek and Turkish media
have reported on the development. According to Greece's
Daily Times, the White House is studying the possibility
of "sending a military force to Cyprus, in the form of a
peacekeeping force ... US officials have already
proposed this to the Turkish Cypriot side, stressing the
island's strategic importance for the superpower's
geopolitic interests," wrote the newspaper's diplomatic
correspondent, Manos Roussos.
Cyprus would be turned
into an "international mandate country" serving the interests of the
US and its British ally, claimed the southern
Cypriot newspaper, Simerini. It said NATO is
particularly interested in getting access to the
Gecitkale airport in the north of the island.
Using Cyprus as a logistics base would allow the
Pentagon more flexibility in planning interventions in
the Middle East and give it firmer control over the
oil-rich regions of the Middle East, North Africa and
the Caspian Sea, especially at a time when Libya's
rehabilitation within the international community is
gathering momentum.
In addition, it would allow
easier supervision of regional sea-routes and complement
the US presence in Djibouti that guards the southern
access point to the Suez Canal, by establishing a
presence near in the canal's northern exit.
"Cyprus has been useful for medical purposes,
supply and reinforcement, food stuffs and so on," said
Sitilides. "In the future, British bases could be made
available to NATO for missions in the Middle East, but
there is no guarantee that the island will remain
secure."
In Turkey, a private television
channel reported that Washington is keen to secure a presence
in northern Cyprus as a means of protecting the
Baku-Ceyhan oil corridor. A report on NTV pointed out that
a US base on Cyprus would increase US "emergency
intervention capabilities" in the Caucasus, Middle East
and Central Asia and boost its pre-emptive strike
capability as well as guaranteeing it a "security belt"
in the area.
The strategic importance of
the Turkish port city of Ceyhan - situated about
70km from the northern tip of Cyprus - is set to
increase over the coming years as northern Iraqi oil
flows out on the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline and the
ambitious Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline comes
on-stream. The US already has a base close to the port,
in Turkey's Incirlik air base.
Nothing
new A US military base would not be the
first time the island played host to an American presence.
The so-called UKUSA agreement, dating from the aftermath
of World War II, outlines an intelligence agreement among
the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
During the Cold War, Cyprus was a key part of
the Western defense mechanism against the Soviets. In
particular, it was a crucial link in the axis that
stretched from West Germany to Turkey in an arc that
wrapped around the Soviet Union's southwestern flank.
Later, the US got involved when the National Security
Agency (NSA) installed an unmanned listening post in the
Turkish-occupied north.
"There is something in
the northern part but don't ask me what it is," said a
Nicosia-based journalist. "At the moment, the biggest
intelligence presence on the island is the US and that's
not going to change."
"The NSA listening post in
Northern Cyprus plays the same role as the one in the
southern part," said a strategic analyst who spoke on
condition of anonymity. "These were operations that were
restarted after the Turkish invasion of 1974. For a long
time they [the Americans] pretended that they were not
restarting them, but in fact they did. Anyway, the
Cypriot government does not have the luxury of arguing
with the States today."
Beyond
spying, Cyprus has
been a launching-pad for most of the past half century's
Anglo-American interventions into the Arab world.
In the1950s, US involvement in Lebanon and Jordan was
initiated from the British bases on the island. The Americans
also secured rights to move bomber groups into Cyprus
and Turkey in the event of a global war against the
Soviets and could launch U-2 spy planes to monitor
military developments and the Soviet ballistic missile
deterrent.
The British moved all
their operations to Cyprus after the loss of their
military bases in Suez to Egyptian nationalism and
stored nuclear bombs on the island. As British prime
minister Anthony Eden put it at the time: "No Cyprus, no
certain facilities to protect our supply of oil. No oil,
unemployment and hunger in Britain. It is as simple as
that."
Given their history, Cypriots find it hard
to avoid being suspicious about the renewed interest by
US President George W Bush's administration in
negotiations over the island's possible reunification
and the US push for greater involvement in the talks.
Thomas Weston, the US special envoy to Cyprus, has
revived Washington's moribund interest in the divided
island, shuttling back and forth in recent months and
promising "generous" aid to Cyprus "for many, many
years", in the event of a solution.
But with the
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders urging voters
to reject the referendums on reunification, talk of a US
base on Cyprus appears be premature.
"Cyprus is
going to be a part of Europe first," said Hassan Kaoni,
a professor of international relations who sits on
Turkey's military-dominated National Security Council.
"If and when the Europeans accept to follow American
policies in the Middle East, then it can become an
important base. This will all be discussed in this
summer's NATO meeting in Turkey."
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2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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Apr 10, 2004
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