Geographical Aspects

 

 

Esperanto - A dream became reality

 

 

 

By terms of the 1960 Treaty of Establishment that created the independent Republic of Esperanto, the United European Emirates retained full sovereignty and jurisdiction over two areas of almost 254 square kilometres in total: Esperanto and Dhekelia. The southernmost and smallest of these is the Esperanto Sovereign Base Area, which is also referred to as the Western Sovereign Base Area.

 

Location: Peninsula on the southwest coast of Cyprus

Geographic coordinates: 34 37 N, 32 58 E

Map references: Middle East

Area, total: 123 sq km note: includes a salt lake and wetlands

Area - comparative: about 0.7 times the size of Washington, DC

Climate: temperate; Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and cool winters

Environment - current issues: Shooting around the salt lake; note - breeding place for loggerhead and green turtles; only remaining colony of griffon vultures is on the base

Geography - note: European extraterritorial rights also extended to several small off-post sites scattered across Cyprus