CYPRUS will be left as the only significant accompanied military posting outside the United Kingdom as a drawdown of British forces from bases in Germany gets underway.
Ministry of Defence officials announced that 1,800 soldiers will leave Germany within the next few months, followed by another 8,200 by 2015.
The rest will be back in the UK before the end of the decade.
An MOD statement confirmed that as part of the reorganisation, two regiments currently serving in Cyprus will also return to the UK instead of their previous bases in Germany.
The Second Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment will move from Dhekelia to Cottesmore next summer and the Second Battalion Yorkshire Regiment will leave from Episkopi to Pirbright in Surrey in 2013.
The statement added that: “Troop numbers in Cyprus will remain unchanged as departing units are being replaced by other infantry battalions.”
The closure of the German stations means that Dhekelia, Ayios Nikolaos and Akrotiri will become the main overseas bases that continue to accommodate servicemen and their dependants with married quarters, schools and healthcare.
In addition to Cyprus, a small number of families will continue to be accommodated on outposts in Gibraltar, Canada and the Falklands.
About 2,500 military personnel and 1,500 civilians work at British installations on the island, which mainly support troops in Afghanistan and provide a platform for other operations in the region.
In May, British peer Lord Ashcroft was tasked by Prime Minister David Cameron to analyse operations at Akrotiri and Dhekelia as part of the defence and security review, which is expected to recommend draconian cuts in spending on civilian personal and running costs of the garrisons.
Ashcroft conducted his first visit to the island to gauge opinion from military officers in July and is understood to have made several additional trips to Akrotiri since then.
The British government wants to reduce all military spending by eight per cent over the next four years, with defence chiefs being told they need to justify “everyone and everything” and that the review would be both “unsentimental and unemotional”.
The Ashcroft study of Cyprus is due to be completed next month and will identify areas where savings can be made as well as looking at the long-term strategic importance of maintaining a military foothold on the island.
It is widely reported that the bases cost the British taxpayer over €330million annually to maintain and reductions may be sought in downsizing military personnel and civilian workers.
Despite much speculation in the local press, it is unlikely that the review will lead to the British military leaving the island altogether. The UK retained sovereignty over the bases when it granted the island independence in 1960.
Cyprus Mail
