Two Boats land At UK Base Akrotiri

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The UK’s Ministry of Defence says two boats carrying 140 migrants, including children, have landed at the RAF base at Akrotiri in Cyprus.

It is believed to be the first time during the current Mediterranean migrant crisis that people have arrived on UK sovereign territory.

The base, on the south coast, has been used to launch British air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Unlike a number of Greek or Italian islands in the Mediterranean, European Union member Cyprus has not seen an influx of refugees.

Almost 600,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived in Europe so far this year.

EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker has called for an extraordinary summit of several EU and Balkan leaders on Sunday to discuss the migrant crisis.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said there was “a need for much greater co-operation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action”.

A number of Iraqi Kurds landed at RAF Akrotiri in 1998 and still live in a second British base on Cyprus, Dhekelia, in former military accommodation.

They have tried to apply for asylum in the UK, but have been repeatedly turned down by the government.

Due to an historic agreement whereby refugees who landed at the British base were  handed over to Cypriot authorities, he said  it is unlikely they would be eligible to claim UK asylum, despite landing on what is considered British soil.

RAF Akrotiri is one of two British sovereign territories in Cyprus, which was a colony until 1960.

The huge military facility had been used to bomb Islamic State targets in northern Iraq since September 2014.