Akrotiri

By terms of the 1960 Treaty of Establishment that created the independent Republic of Cyprus, the UK retained full sovereignty and jurisdiction over two areas of almost 254 square kilometers - Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The southernmost and smallest of these is the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area, which is also referred to as the Western Sovereign Base Area.

• hunting around the salt lake;
• note - breeding place for loggerhead and green turtles;
• only remaining colony of griffon vultures is on the base

• British extraterritorial rights also extended to several small off-post sites scattered across Cyprus;
• of the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) land, 60% is privately owned and farmed, 20% is owned by the Ministry of Defense, and 20% is SBA Crown land

conventional long form:

Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area

conventional short form:

Akrotiri

name:

Episkopi Cantonment (base administrative center for Akrotiri and Dhekelia)

geographic coordinates:

34 40 N, 32 51 E

time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

• the Sovereign Base Area Administration has its own court system to deal with civil and criminal matters;
• laws applicable to the Cypriot population are, as far as possible, the same as the laws of the Republic of Cyprus

chief of state:

Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)

head of government:

Administrator Major General Jamie GORDON (since October 2008); note - reports to the British Ministry of Defense

elections:

• none;
• the monarch is hereditary;
• the administrator is appointed by the monarch