§ Q6. Mr. Rankinasked the Prime Minister if he will state the terms of his reply to that part of Mr. Khrushchev's message to him in which he said that everything was being done to prevent discussion of the Cyprus problem by the Security Council before which it has been placed by the Government of Cyprus.
§ Q7. Mr. Dribergasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the latest developments in the Cyprus situation; what communications have recently been received by Her Majesty's Government from the Governments of the United States, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, particularly with regard to the import of arms into Cyprus; and how soon he expects that the British troops in Cyprus will be reinforced or relieved by an international force.
§ The Prime MinisterThe texts of Mr. Khrushchev's letter to me on the Cyprus problem and of my reply were given in my Written Answer to the hon.
1130 Gentleman the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Warbey) on 13th February.
Since my right hon. Friend the Commonwealth Secretary made his statement to the House on 17th February, the Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations have been urgently considering the problem.
Last night in the Security Council, a resolution was introduced drafted by its five non-permanent members. This resolution recommends the creation, with the consent of the Government of Cyprus, of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus, the composition and size of which is to be established by the Secretary-General in consultation with the Governments of Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Throughout the discussions in the Security Council we have made it clear that we are not prepared to bear indefinitely almost the whole burden of peace keeping in the Republic of Cyprus. On the point of timing, I naturally cannot anticipate the course of events in the Security Council, or the plans of the Secretary-General.
While we are in close consultation with the other Governments concerned on all aspects of the Cyprus situation, no formal communications have been received from the Governments mentioned in the second Question on the particular matter of the import of arms into Cyprus.
§ Mr. RankinDo I take it from that statement that the right hon. Gentleman has now changed his view, and that instead of supporting N.A.T.O.'s activities in Cyprus he is turning to the support of the United Nations peacekeeping activities? Is he aware that last Wednesday Admiral Zenker announced that West Germany was going ahead with the building of three submarines, to be followed later by six submarine killers? How can he support these warlike activities of West Germany while he boasts about his peace-keeping activities in Cyprus and other parts of the world?
§ The Prime MinisterThere is absolutely no connection between the hon. Member's supplementary question and the original Question. I think that we would wish to see the result of the Security Council meeting tomorrow 1131 morning before making up our minds about future steps.
§ Mr. DribergIn order to stress the urgency of the last part of Question No. 7—which is indeed accepted by the Prime Minister himself in the reply which he has given—can the right hon. Gentleman confirm the very disturbing figures about British units below strength in Cyprus given to the House yesterday by my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Mr. Wigg)?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that I should like notice of a Question about the actual strength of units in Cyprus. At the moment we have some 8,000 to 12,000 men there. That is a great many and they are doing their job extremely well.
§ Mr. BottomleyAfter expressing the wish that the decision of the United Nations will be a successful one, and that help will be given to bring peace to Cyprus, may I ask whether the Prime Minister would agree that it would have been much wiser had the Government taken this matter to the Security Council much earlier?
§ The Prime MinisterIf I may say so, this is where right hon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite make a complete mistake and misjudge the situation completely. We have to carry with us in this matter not only the Greeks but the Turks who are allies in N.A.T.O. We have had to play this hand in a way which would get the agreement of the Greeks and the Turks, and we had to put a resolution to the United Nations which would not be vetoed by the Russians. That has been an extremely tricky thing to do and we should not have had a chance if we had done it earlier.