self-governing crown colony of the United Kingdom. Dependent territories like Malta had the international memberships of their mother country, so the island was part of NATO. In fact, the headquarters of the Allied Forces Mediterranean was based in the town of Floriana between 1952 and 1965. When Malta gained independence in 1964, the country did not apply to join NATO, due to the relations between NATO and the prime minister George Borg Olivier at the time, but nevertheless supported the alliance. This changed in 1971, when the Labour's Dom Mintoff was elected as prime minister and stated that Malta is neutral in its foreign policy, a position which was later enacted into the country's constitution in 1974. Later the country joined the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979, at the same time when the British Royal Navy left its base in Malta Dockyard. In 1995, Malta joined the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council multilateral defence forum and NATO's Partnership for Peace defence program. However, it withdrew its membership from both organisations a year later in 1996 by the newly elected Labour government. Maltese foreign policy changed notably in 2004, with the country joining the European Union and it re-joined the EAPC and PfP programs in 2008, pointing to a change in the island's foreign relations. Over time, Malta has been building its relations with NATO and getting involved in wider projects including the PfP Planning and Review Process and the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme. Membership of NATO is not supported by any of the country's political parties including the current governing Labour and the opposition Nationalists. Polling done by the island-nation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs found in February 2022 (before the Russian invasion of Ukraine) that nearly two-thirds support the island's neutral position, and only 6% are against it. NATO's secretary-general Stoltenberg says the alliance fully respects Malta's position of neutrality, and put no pressure for the country to join the alliance. Cyprus Like Malta, Cyprus was a crown colony at the time of the United Kingdom until it gained independence in 1960. As such, Cyprus was also a member of the NATO under the British crown. However, the reason for Cyprus' non-membership is due to the 1974 Cyprus conflict and relations between Greece and Turkey. This reason even extends to Cyprus' non-participation in the Partnership for Peace program and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council multilateral defence forum. In May 2022, Cyprus