Talk:Sovereign Base Areas

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in a manner analogous to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Is this really so? - Montréalais

Sounds right to me. What's wrong with it? -- Tim Starling 01:08 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I understood that the naval base was merely leased to the United States from Cuba. I guess I don't understand how that's different from, say, an embassy being leased to a foreign government. I don't think you could argue that Ottawa is Swiss-cheesed with tiny little embassy-sized pockets of "foreign" territory. - Montréalais

My understanding is that embassies are part of the foreign state whilst in use. Canadian law would not apply in, say, the Saudi embassy. A famous British incident involved a police woman, Yvonne Fletcher being shot from the Libyan embassy in London. Noone was prosecuted, because the perpetrator was on Libyan soil and protected by diplomatic immunity jimfbleak 06:05 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, embassies are not under the foreign state's jurisdiction, although the host nation needs official permission to physically enter them. It was the Libyan diplomats' status as diplomats that meant they could not be arrested, not where they committed their crimes. On the other hand, the Sovereign Base Areas are British territory. I couldn't find the relevent text of the 1960 treaty, but the British law implementing the treaty, the Cyprus Act 1960, states "The Republic of Cyprus shall comprise the entirety of the Island of Cyprus with the exception of the two areas defined as mentioned in the following subsection," namely Akrotiri and Dhekelia, over which "nothing in the foregoing section shall affect Her Majesty’s sovereignty or jurisdiction over those areas" ([1]). They are thus unlike Guantanamo Bay, which is Cuban territory under US lease. 68.239.76.176 03:41, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm afraid you are all misunderstanding the status of the Sovereign Base Areas. In the case of Guantanamo Bay, the nation of Cuba existed and then Guantanamo Bay was leased to the US. The same does not apply to Cyprus. In the case of Cyprus, the whole island was, prior to Independence, a UK colony. At Independence the Republic of Cyprus was created, excluding those areas of the island that were retained by the UK. What is now the SBAs were UK territory before the Republic was created. Essentially, the SBAs have never been "Cypriot". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sink Fleet (talk • contribs) 02:37, August 27, 2007 (UTC)

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Akrotiri, the famous Minoan archaological site on Santorini, buried by the volcanic explosion of Thira--- now redirects here, because a minor UK base on Cyprus is also named "Akrotiri." Perhaps a disambiguation page would be in order? Wetman 00:22, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Post Empire

The UK retained several militray bases throughout the Empire following decolonisation for a period of time eg Singapore, Simonstwon in South Africa etc? Were these sovereign bases? Astrotrain 20:51, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

I miss information as to why th UK is in Cyprus and perhaps more importantly why it doesn't leave. If Turkey has to give back a part of Cyprus, why is the UK exempt?

If we're debating this point (an activity seperate from editing this page), one argument is that the Turkish north was the result of an invasion of the Republic of Cyprus, while the SBAs were never part of independent Cyprus but holdovers from the British colony of Cyprus. And the Republic of Cyprus agreed to the SBAs in its treaty with Britain in 1960, while it never agreed to the invasion. 68.239.76.176 05:19, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Are the SBAs parts of BOTs?

The Sovereign Base Areas are described as one of BOTs in the article British overseas territories. Is the British Government classifying SBA as a special type of BOT? If it is true, I think it should be explained in both British overseas territories and Sovereign Base Areas. ― 韓斌/Yes0song (談笑 筆跡 다지모) 14:55, 17 September 2007 (UTC)