- 1 day ago
Ciprus, Európa előretolt bástyája a konfliktus sújtotta Közel-Keleten
Március 1-jén egy Libanonból indított iráni gyártmányú Sahed drón csapódott be a ciprusi Akrotíri brit légi támaszponton, ami a közel-keleti háborút váratlanul közelebb hozta Európához. Riportunk azt vizsgálja, milyen feszültségek alakítják az EU a konfliktushoz legközelebb eső határvidékét.
BŐVEBBEN : http://hu.euronews.com/2026/04/24/ciprus-europa-eloretolt-bastyaja-a-konfliktus-sujtotta-kozel-keleten
Iratkozzon fel: Az Euronews elérhető 12 nyelven
Március 1-jén egy Libanonból indított iráni gyártmányú Sahed drón csapódott be a ciprusi Akrotíri brit légi támaszponton, ami a közel-keleti háborút váratlanul közelebb hozta Európához. Riportunk azt vizsgálja, milyen feszültségek alakítják az EU a konfliktushoz legközelebb eső határvidékét.
BŐVEBBEN : http://hu.euronews.com/2026/04/24/ciprus-europa-eloretolt-bastyaja-a-konfliktus-sujtotta-kozel-keleten
Iratkozzon fel: Az Euronews elérhető 12 nyelven
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00:02Last night, a drone hit Arif Akrotiri in Cyprus.
00:08This is the British Akrotiri airbase in southwest Cyprus,
00:12hit by an Iranian-made Shahed drone on the night of March the 1st.
00:18This strike was a turning point,
00:20bringing the Middle East war to Europe's doorstep.
00:24When Chypre is attacked, it is Europe who is attacked.
00:28Cyprus is now emerging as a strategic front line
00:32in a widening and unpredictable conflict.
00:36Caught between global powers, regional tensions
00:39and its own decade-long division,
00:42the island is becoming a critical geopolitical fault line.
00:46What does it mean to live on Europe's frontier in a time of war?
00:50That's what we'll see in this episode of Euronews Investigates.
01:03The two British bases in Cyprus are more than lines on a map.
01:07These sovereign British bases are not only surrounded by protected wild landscapes,
01:13but also by villages where residents have grown used
01:16to the constant roar of jets, international patrols
01:20and the reality of living on the edge of a volatile region.
01:24The island's position is crucial.
01:27Around 100 kilometres from Syria,
01:30180 from Lebanon
01:31and just over 200 kilometres from Israel.
01:35Iran is 1,000 kilometres away.
01:38I'm entering the British sovereign base area of Akrotiri.
01:42What you have to know is that the British sovereign territory
01:45is far bigger than the perimeter of the base itself,
01:49stretching across nine communities,
01:52home to around 40,000 people.
01:56Akrotiri is the main village right next to the base
02:00and with a strong connection to it.
02:02About a third of its residents work there,
02:05explained the deputy mayor.
02:07This is the fragmented region
02:10and here is the Akrotiri.
02:13Here are approximately 1,240 people.
02:18Three hours after the night,
02:20I heard a wave,
02:21I heard siren,
02:24I tried to speak with the citizens of the democracy.
02:28They called us to the base of the base
02:32and told us that a drone had fallen into the base.
02:39The evacuation order was given the following day
02:42and lasted for 10 days.
02:44Around 1,000 people were evacuated.
02:47They were mainly taken in by relatives
02:49with some housed in a nearby monastery and in hotels.
02:54Do you feel safe?
03:01I don't know if I am ready to answer this,
03:06but I believe that,
03:08with the amount of problems around us,
03:12it is very difficult to escape from this base.
03:17Cyprus, which currently holds the rotating presidency
03:21of the Council of the European Union,
03:23is not a NATO member and relies on allies for its defence.
03:27The UK has allowed the US to use its bases in the country
03:31for defensive operations.
03:33After the drone attack,
03:35France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands deployed naval assets.
03:39Greece also sent military support.
03:43A month later, when I visited,
03:45the drone attack seemed almost forgotten.
03:48There were no warships in sight
03:50and fewer warplanes in the sky.
03:53The war in the Middle East and the drone attack
03:55became something people don't want to talk about.
04:09What officials call an isolated incident
04:13revealed some deficiencies.
04:15As the mayor of Curion explains,
04:17the Republic of Cyprus has no authority to evacuate
04:20or take any civil safety measures
04:22in almost 60% of his municipality, including Akrotiri.
04:27as it's part of the sovereign base areas
04:30administered by Britain.
04:32I believe what the attack showed was that nobody was ready,
04:37especially the sovereign bases.
04:40There are no contingency plans
04:42and evacuation plans in the SBA.
04:44What is the general feeling about these bases?
04:49We believe that things should start to change
04:54and actually get a clear sense on whose authorities to do what,
05:01especially with regards to the civil defence issue.
05:06I'm the only mayor in Cyprus that has to deal with two different legislations
05:11and basically two different governments.
05:13But the attack also exposed a deeper controversy.
05:16Would you say these British bases are a threat?
05:21After the incident last month,
05:25people are starting to change their mind
05:28and feeling that having a base right next to us
05:33that gets involved so much in the Middle East crisis
05:39that's happening over and over again,
05:41it's becoming a threat to the country.
05:45The two British bases of Akrotiri and Ekelia
05:49cover around 200 square kilometres,
05:52about 3% of Cyprus territory.
05:55They were retained when Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960.
06:01The right-wing Cypriot government has raised questions
06:05about the future of the bases after the drone strike,
06:08with the issue remaining a long-standing source of political friction.
06:12Actress, TV presenter and activist Melanie Stelio
06:16is among public figures who see the British bases as a legacy of colonialism.
06:21She is speaking out ahead of the May parliamentary elections,
06:25where she is a candidate for the left-wing Akel Alliance.
06:29Over 56% of the population of Cyprus don't want the bases to be here anymore.
06:35We're not sending our soldiers there,
06:37but we're giving Cyprus as a permanent aircraft carrier
06:41for the United States of America and any other power that wants to use us,
06:46including the bases, including RAF Akrotiri.
06:50We're enabling them, we're giving them our facilities to bomb other countries.
06:56So how is that exactly creating peace?
07:00The Cypriot ministers of defence and foreign affairs declined,
07:04my request to comment on the future of the bases and on key geopolitical issues.
07:09The focus instead appears to be on reassurance,
07:13with the economy, especially tourism, as a priority.
07:17This key sector, which accounts for around 12% of GDP,
07:22is very vulnerable to external shocks like conflict.
07:26Industry leaders say the response to the drone attack was excessive.
07:32Unjustly so, has been created a big noise out of the incident.
07:40It has been augmented as a newsworthy event, which was not so.
07:46It was one remote incident and there was an overreaction from all over the world
07:51that Cyprus is in a war zone, which as you can see yourself,
07:57Cyprus remains a very peaceful, safe and friendly destination.
08:02There are also several countries that have issued heightened warnings for visiting Cyprus.
08:10We found them overreacting and unjust.
08:15Are they overreacting or are we minimising?
08:19Cyprus is open and safe, no matter if the war continues.
08:26US and Israeli first strikes on Iran on February 28th,
08:30hit just as the tourism season in Cyprus was reopening after winter
08:34and hotel bookings fell by nearly 40% in March.
08:39Cyprus's Deputy Minister of Tourism says the impact will ultimately depend on how long the conflict lasts.
08:46If the conflict ends tomorrow, I believe that at the end of the day we're going to have a very
08:52similar performance
08:53to the performance of the year before.
08:55If the conflict ends after the year, for example,
09:00definitely we will observe a reduction in the total number of tourist arrivals
09:04but that will take place for every single country in the Mediterranean zone,
09:10especially for those located in the Eastern Mediterranean.
09:13Cyprus is not part of the conflict but it's very close to an unpredictable war.
09:20I disagree with you. We are not so close.
09:23We are just belonging on the map.
09:27Definitely we are thousands of kilometres away from the conflict zone.
09:31We are not part of the problem.
09:33Cyprus was always acting as a pillar of peace and stability in the area of Eastern Mediterranean.
09:42But is the Middle East a war altering the balance on the island?
09:47Divided since Turkey's 1974 invasion, triggered by a Greek-backed coup pushing for union with Greece,
09:55the island remains split between the internationally recognised EU member Republic of Cyprus in the south
10:01and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey.
10:07A 180km long UN buffer zone, the Green Line separates the two.
10:15Nicosia is considered the last divided capital in the world, with the Ledra Street checkpoint cutting through its centre.
10:25I have just crossed into a country that officially doesn't exist.
10:32Northern Cyprus is politically dependent on Turkey, a key player in the Middle East crisis.
10:38After EU countries deployed military assets in the south,
10:42Ankara responded by sending F-16 fighter jets to the north, sparking controversy.
10:49I raised this issue with the self-declared Turkish Cypriot administration.
10:54Under the gaze of Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey,
10:58I sat down with a hard-line nationalist foreign minister.
11:01Even his title doesn't officially exist, and it felt like stepping into a 3D history book.
11:08Why did you receive these several F-16?
11:11To show to the world and to the Greek Cypriots that Turkish Cypriots enjoy the support and security of the
11:17motherland Turkey.
11:18We are not going to allow the balance, the military balance established on the island since 1974 to be changed.
11:26If the Greek Cypriots do anything to upset this military balance on the island,
11:32then it is our right and Turkey's right to make sure that this balance is restored.
11:39Around 40,000 Turkish troops are stationed in northern Cyprus.
11:44The Greek Cypriot side wants them withdrawn, but the Turkish Cypriot side insists they guarantee protection until a peace settlement
11:51is reached.
11:52Former negotiations have been stalled since 2017.
11:58So, is this conflict widening the gap between the north and the south?
12:04Obviously, the Turkish Cypriot people, they are becoming more aware that there is no well-meaning policies of the Greek
12:13Cypriots
12:14that respect Turkish Cypriot rights, Turkish Cypriot entity, Turkish Cypriot sovereignty.
12:23Nationalists still hold a majority in the so-called parliament, but their views are losing consensus
12:29and a left-wing opposition leader won the October 2025 presidential election.
12:35Even so, analysts say the current regional crisis could make reunification less likely any time soon.
12:46The most obvious outcome would be a deepening of the separation because people will become entrenched in their own sides.
12:54So, it's unlikely that people would leap to the other side as a result of the conflict unless there was
13:02something pushing them there.
13:03So, unless the UN steps in and says, okay, you know, helping to solve the Cyprus conflict could help us
13:11solve other regional issues,
13:13but I have a feeling that the United Nations is rather distracted at the moment and probably is not going
13:19to be interested enough to take up that opportunity.
13:24Besides the military build-up and geopolitics, the island is also shaped by communities that fled conflicts.
13:31Many Israelis and Lebanese have relocated here in search of peace and stability.
13:36In Limassol, I met an Israeli-Jewish restaurant owner.
13:40He arrived in 2022 fleeing violence one year before the Hamas terrorist attacks,
13:46a traumatic event that prompted many more Israelis to seek refuge here.
13:51He complained about graffiti that appeared near his business.
13:56It was a terrorist attack next to us, so we fled to the Cyprus.
14:00It's close to home, and it feels like Israel.
14:03Do you want to go back?
14:05No, no.
14:07Why?
14:08There is no stress here. Everything here is siga-siga.
14:12What is it, siga-siga?
14:13Slowly, slowly.
14:15Okay. So, what do you think about what's happening in the Middle East at the moment?
14:20We are witnesses to history. The Jewish nation is saving the world from the terror regime in Iran.
14:29And with God's help, we will finish them, and the world will be a better place.
14:34What about the international laws?
14:36The Israeli attacked both Lebanon and Iran.
14:41We are eliminating this threat one and for all.
14:45The same thing we are doing with Iran, and the same thing we did with Hamas.
14:49It was a threat. They invaded Israel in October 7, 2023.
14:54Does this justify killing civilians?
14:58We didn't start this war.
15:00No, but did this justify to kill civilians?
15:02We never start the war. We're just finishing it.
15:08Like this restaurant owner, a great majority of Israeli Jews, 78%, continue to support the month-long war on Iran
15:17and Lebanon, according to recent polls.
15:20In Israel, only a minority are opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war.
15:30Avishai, a retired professor of political science, is among them.
15:34He lived and taught in Cyprus for 10 years and now visits as a tourist.
15:41My position is against the government and against the war.
15:46The children in Gaza, having been through what they've been in the last two years, I can't see them growing
15:52up without hatred.
15:54I see the children growing up in Israel with their fears, with the prospect of serving in wars and wars
16:04and wars for the rest of their lives.
16:07I was six when Israel was founded.
16:13When I went to first year in school, we were in shelters and in bombs, and I'm now 85 and
16:21I'm in shelters and bombs.
16:23How do you feel about the fact that your position is still a minority in Israel?
16:30The minority is not always a minority, and there is a hope for change.
16:39At the time of editing my report in mid-April, more than 2,000 people had been killed in Lebanon.
16:47What are numbers to the wider public can be family or friends to the Lebanese diaspora.
16:53In Cyprus, many of the 20,000 people of Lebanese descent watch the news with horror and worry.
16:59Some are still trying to put their lives back together and keep the pain at bay.
17:06I grew up in Lebanon. Besides the war, I had a great childhood, and the beauty of Lebanon is inside
17:15me.
17:17It's my country, it's my people, and wherever I go, it stays with me.
17:25The Lebanese people are resilient, but now, if you ask any Lebanese, they don't want to be resilient anymore.
17:32They are tired. We are all tired.
17:42Over 3 million people have been displaced in Iran, and another 1 million within Lebanon since the war began.
17:49Humanitarian agencies warn of a potential refugee crisis.
17:53In Cyprus, the authorities say they remain vigilant, despite the country not having seen large waves of refugees so far.
18:01The Cypriot Migration Minister believes the EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum should help avoid a repeat of the
18:092015 crisis,
18:10when the Syrian civil war caused the largest refugee movement in Europe since World War II.
18:17Things have changed since the last refugee crisis in 2015.
18:21We've got more robust legislation, and we believe that we're more ready now to deal with the new refugee crisis.
18:32We are getting ready for the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in June.
18:36It's also been pretty controversial.
18:38So are you going to support more people coming towards Cyprus, or less people?
18:44So the new legislation gives us an opportunity to perform stricter controls at the borders, expedite our asylum procedures, and
18:55improve our return procedures as well.
19:00So it's a general, comprehensive, cohesive legal framework that will enable us to improve our procedures.
19:09If you are going to have hundreds of thousands of people coming from Lebanon or Iran, what's going to happen?
19:16We have to examine, on an individualised basis, each application, of course, in order to ascertain whether these individuals are
19:25really in danger.
19:28Everyday life in Cyprus goes on, as it almost always has, relaxed.
19:33The Middle East war washed from afar, as if not looking too directly, might keep it at bay.
19:41I left Cyprus feeling the island is already being shaped by the war, more than people are aware of, and
19:48the authorities are prepared to admit.
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