§ Mr. Hastings(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current treatment of British residents and the security of property of British citizens in the Turkish-occupied zone of Cyprus at the present time.
§ The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Roy Hattersley)Her Majesty's Government have much sympathy for the British residents in the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus, whose problems continue to cause grave concern. The worst problem is looting and damage to property, associated with inadequate law enforcement, though administrative restrictions are causing increasing inconvenience. The local authorities have been repeatedly reminded of their responsibilities to protect United Kingdom citizens and their property, and repeated representations have also been made to the Turkish Government. The situation is kept continually under review.
§ Mr. HastingsI am grateful to the Minister for that reply, but does he appreciate that the position seems to have deteriorated further since his last statement in the House? Is he in a position to confirm that British citizens trying to get access from Greek Cyprus to their properties are forbidden to enter the Turkish area, that if British residents in the Turkish area want to leave they can get permission but cannot get permission to return, and that, moreover, all British owners of property are required to register their ownership by 30th June in the Turkish quarter of Nicosia to which, equally, they have no access, which means that their only recourse is to send their title deeds by post, which, I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will agree, very few people are likely to do in the circumstances? Does not this begin to look like the preparations for naked expropriation? I am sure that most Turkish Cypriots would never countenance such a course, but it may be a very different matter where the Turkish Army is involved.
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, unfortunately, British residents out 889 there have come to regard the high commission as unhelpful in this matter? Despite what the right hon. Gentleman said, will he see whether, if this be true, some additional protest can be made urgently to the Turkish Government as well as to the Turkish authorities in Cyprus?
§ Mr. HattersleyI want first to repudiate entirely, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman does, any suggestion that the high commission has been anything other than as helpful as possible in the circumstances. The High Commissioner and his staff have played a notable and, on many occasions, a very brave rôle during the Cyprus emergency of the summer and during the months which have followed it. I am sure that those people who know what the High Commissioner and his staff have done are deeply appreciative of what they have accomplished in appallingly difficult circumstances.
As to the two specific matters raised by the hon. Gentleman, there is one restriction on travel about which we knew and which I have reported to the House; namely, that both the Turkish authorities in the north and the authorities in the south insist that visitors to Cyprus who enter that country through a port which one or other authority does not recognise are illegal immigrants and, therefore, in theory at least, place some restriction on their movements, though as far as we know that has not been applied very rigorously to British subjects who enter the north and they want to move to the south. If the hon. Gentleman has any evidence about that happening, I should be grateful for it. I have no information about a date being placed on the end to registration of property, nor about the particular inconvenience to which he referred. Again, I should be grateful for the evidence if he possesses it, and we will look into it immediately.
§ Sir George SinclairMay I add my plea that the Minister should make the strongest representations to the Turkish Government over their handling of this problem, because the northern part of Cyprus is effectively under the control of the Turkish Government?
As a former deputy governor of Cyprus, I have had many representations made to me about property that has been 890 looted and over which people have been unable to get any reassurance. This applies also to property in the southern part of the island belonging to British residents which has been looted by the other community. Will the right hon. Gentleman keep a wary eye on that matter, too? There is a special case which I shall be presenting to him later. Again, I ask that the strongest representations be made to the Government of Turkey to get on with this matter and to reassure people who have worked with both communities over many years in Cyprus.
§ Mr. HattersleyI am happy to confirm that Her Majesty's Government will carry on doing exactly what the hon. Gentleman suggests. There have been repeated representations since the day of the invasion. Indeed, on the night of the invasion, when we anticipated that it might take place, the Turkish ambassador came to the Foreign Office, at my request, and was warned that if the ships then only a few miles off the coast of Cyprus were to be the occasion of landings we would expect him to ensure that obligations towards British citizens and property were properly fulfilled. Since that night repeated representations have been made. Most recently, on 11th March, a Written Note, with all the formality that that implies, was delivered. It was the second one which had been delivered to the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Continually since that note was delivered in the middle of March, we have made verbal representations asking for its implementation. The hon. Gentleman will understand that there are limits to what we can do and to our powers. However, I assure him that we will press on as hard and determinedly as we can.
§ Mr. Ernest G. PerryWill my right hon. Friend understand that in my constituency there is the widow of a British civil servant who worked in Cyprus and owns a very small plot of land north of the Famagusta line? She has been asked for her title deeds. She will not part with them on my advice. I have them in my possession. I feel that there is an obligation on the British Government to see what they can do for people like this widow who are being deprived of what they have worked for all their lives.
§ Mr. HattersleyI do not dissent from any judgments made by my hon. Friend about our obligation and duty to protect British residents as best we can. The example he gave is one of many. Now that we have set up a register of property, we continually hear of cases as tragic and desperate as the one to which he referred. I promise him that we will go on representing their interests as best we can.
§ Mr. TugendhatIs the Minister aware that the Opposition agree that the high commission in Cyprus has operated under the most terrible difficulties and that we join him in paying tribute to the good work that has been done under difficult circumstances?
Will the right hon. Gentleman understand that the situation revealed by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Bedfordshire (Mr. Hastings) is very serious? Although we recognise that the British Government's influence in these matters is necessarily limited and that we can do very much less than many of our constituents believe, the Turks have in the past shown themselves somewhat susceptible to bad publicity. They seem anxious to maintain the good opinion of the world. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that if the British Government made as vigorous efforts as possible to publicise and expose the kind of dangers to which 892 hon. Members on both sides have drawn attention, it could be of great assistance in helping British subjects who are in the difficulties which have been so eloquently described?
§ Mr. HattersleyIt is a matter of judgment whether progress is made by the rather public ways that the hon. Gentleman recommends, or at least implies, might be right. If he considers that Turkish reaction, for instance, to the arms embargo imposed by the Congress of the United States, he may agree that one could at least argue that public steps of that kind are more likely to harden attitudes than to soften opinions. I understand the necessity for making every kind of approach which seems right, and we will go on doing that.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. We must go on.