UK hampers Greek Cypriot farmers on Bases land, official says

Britain’s Ministry of Defence, citing the Crown and security, is hampering Greek Cypriot farmers trying to cultivate their plots inside the British Bases, Agricultural Payments Commissioner Andreas Kyprianou told parliament members. The British, he said, cite the Crown, which reportedly granted the land to the Ministry of Defence, and on that basis “do not want the plots cultivated for security reasons”. His office has written to the Foreign Ministry, which is handling the matter and taking its own action. Kyprianou was briefing the House Refugees Committee on crop subsidies and the areas where farmers have difficulty working their land. Buffer zone Kyprianou also told the committee that Turks are encroaching into the buffer zone and cultivating Greek Cypriot-owned plots, extending the ceasefire line. The buffer zone covers about 2.8 per cent of the Republic’s territory, he said. Satellite data lets the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organisation (CAPO) see exactly what is happening on the ground, and the data shows the encroachment. When he visited the Akaki–Avlona area last Thursday, the plot owners who went with him confirmed it. He called the issue very serious. Kyprianou said CAPO does not subsidise crops in areas outside the Republic’s control or where safe access cannot be guaranteed, adding that it is also a question of checks. Until recently, CAPO worked to a ‘safe access line’, the furthest point the United Nations allowed CAPO staff to reach to check whether a plot was actually being cultivated. It accepted subsidy applications only up to that point. He said the line will no longer apply. CAPO now accepts applications beyond it, because modern tools allow it to confirm whether even the last Greek Cypriot plot in the buffer zone is being farmed . CAPO will help farmers cultivate their plots by subsidising them, provided they want to, he said.