‘A Longdrawn-Out Game of Chess’ and the Camouflaged Partition of the Island of Cyprus that followed on 16 August 1960: A Review of Achilles C. Emilianides, A Longdrawn-Out Game of Chess: The Secret Negotiations About the British Bases (1959–1960) (Nicosia: Hippasus Communications & Publishing Ltd., October 2021)

Abstract

Bearing in mind the geostrategic ramifications of Brexit, this review offers a critical assessment of a significant new book with one primary purpose—to analyse the negotiations over the two areas of the Crown Colony of Cyprus, which, upon the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus on 16 August 1960, were retained by the United Kingdom and renamed as the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. This review explains why the book is a welcome addition to the existing academic literature. The review also provides certain pieces of constructive criticism largely centred on issues that are unexplored in the book. As such, the review seeks to place the narrow subject matter of the book into a much wider historical and legal context. For example, the review touches on the largely hushed-up geostrategic interests served by those involved in the negotiations. The review depicts the principal outcome of those negotiations as ‘the camouflaged partition’ of the Island of Cyprus on 16 August 1960. The review ends by suggesting that there is a causal link between the negotiations explored in the new book and the conspicuous post-Brexit role of RAF Akrotiri in supporting the UK's strategy towards Russia and Ukraine.