The Sovereign Base Area Administration (SBAA) has issued a statement responding to community uproar over its plans to install additional antennas near Akrotiri, defending the project and citing a 2007 study that found no elevated cancer risk linked to military antenna installations in Cyprus.
The statement, issued in response to a Phileleftheros report, describes the works as the modernisation of existing infrastructure at the Akrotiri Salt Lake site.
The SBAA acknowledged that additional land acquisition would be required, saying any such process would follow established legal and administrative procedures and would involve engagement with affected landowners, including consideration of any compensation due.
On the cancer concerns raised by residents, the SBAA pointed to a publicly available 2007 study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, which concluded that “the dominant sources of radiofrequency fields were cell phone and national broadcast systems. There was no excess of cancer, birth defects or obstetric problems.”
The SBAA added that existing monitoring arrangements, including within the village of Akrotiri, continually provide emissions data to the relevant Republic of Cyprus authorities. It said independent verification of that data would continue, and offered to install additional monitoring units across the Salt Lake site.
The statement made no reference to the 32 antennas cited in the original Phileleftheros report, the legal challenges launched by Kourion Municipality and the Merra Akrotiri Management Committee, or the community’s stated intention to pursue the matter before the European Court of Human Rights.
As reported by Phileleftheros, residents of Akrotiri have described the area as already overburdened by existing installations, which they believe are linked to rising cancer cases locally.
The Bases intend to compulsorily acquire approximately 4,896,000 square feet of community land for the project. Kourion Mayor Pantelis Georgiou said the municipality had engaged a lawyer to explore bringing the matter before the ECHR, and meetings have been requested with the President, the Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries.