The United Kingdom’s bases in Cyprus are “a colonial remnant”, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Wednesday, before calling for their status to be up for discussion following the conclusion of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“The presence of the British bases in Cyprus is a colonial remnant. When this crisis is over, we need to have an open and frank discussion with the British government,” he said at an event held in Brussels, according to news website PolicyPress.

Later, he was also keen to point out that “in addition to the geopolitical aspect, there is also the dimension of the more than 10,000 Cypriots residing in the bases, to whom the Republic of Cyprus has obligations”.

Despite this, he said that the “level of cooperation” between the British and Cypriot governments is “extremely positive”, and highlighted British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the island last year.

His comments on the bases’ future come in direct opposition to those expressed by the UK’s parliamentary undersecretary of state for the armed forces Al Carns, who told the British House of Commons in the week that the baes’ future is “not in question”.

Carns had also said that when the country’s Defence Secretary John Healey had visited the island earlier this month, “the Cypriot national guard reaffirmed that our relationship is closer now than ever before”.

During the same Commons debate, opposition MP Al Pinkerton had spoken of “growing disquiet within Cyprus” regarding the bases’ presence in the aftermath of the Akrotiri air force base being hit by an Iranian-made drone on March 2.

That disquiet had earlier seen Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou demand the bases’ abolition, saying  that his party has been “emphasising this for decades, calling for the abolition of the bases”, and that “the challenge now is to make it clear at every opportunity that Cyprus is not and does not want to become a war base”.

Opposition to the bases’ existence is bicommunal, too, with Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP deputy leader Asim Akansoy having said that the UK’s continued possession of two sovereign bases on the island is “a great mistake of history”.

In the UK, former prime minister Rishi Sunak had said in the aftermath of the drone strike that Cyprus “is only a target because of our sovereign bases there”, while Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said that the government had “consistently” warned that the British bases could become a target in the event of a conflict in the region.

Earlier, Christodoulides himself had said that “nothing has been ruled out” regarding the bases’ future.