There's a huge benefit in having that part around because you can do plenty of shady stuff there that won't fly in any free countries. No Turks are nice people, in a way nicer than locals, it can never turn violent. They are stuck in that political impasse a lot worse than us.

That is certainly an interesting perspective!

there's a uk base which guarantees some degree of security, and cyprus is a europen country. i don't think turkey has attacking europe on its priority list. they are often aggressive though, with their navy not allowing cyprus to drill in their own waters for instance