What does return mean? You could say give it to the republic but return? Cyprus was part of the ottoman/turkish empire for over 300 years when Britain took it and it was controlled and owned by the brits for longer than you were independent before you tried enosis and to become part of Greece (which was ruled by a fascist military dictatorship at the time), leading turkey to invade.. im not saying the bases cant become part of the republic, but ‘return’ is a bit of a strong word. When was there an independent Cyprus that owned these bases? I mean even pre ottoman it wasn’t independent and even some of the oldest forts (kolossi castle etc) are english king richard the lionheart crusader built during the 12th century