§ 3.43 p.m.
THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (THE EARL OF HOME)My Lords, I think your Lordships would like me to intervene for a moment to give the House a statement on Cyprus which is being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The statement is as follows:
"The House will, I am sure, welcome the fact that, as announced in a joint communiqué on Friday, agreement has been reached between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders and the United Kingdom Delegation on all outstanding questions.
"It is expected that the documents comprising the settlement will be initialled in Nicosia during the next few days on behalf of all the five parties to the settlement, namely the Governments of the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey, anti the representatives of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The text of the Cyprus Bill and an explanatory White Paper will 935 be published as soon as possible after initialling. It is hoped that the White Paper will be presented before the end of this week. The Government hope that the Bill, which will empower Her Majesty to name by Order in Council the day on which the independent Republic of Cyprus will come into being, may be passed before the Summer Recess. The date for independence will be fixed in agreement with the Cypriot leaders. On that day, which will be after the holding of elections in Cyprus, the Treaties and related documents will be signed and become operative.
"The Sovereign Base Areas will comprise two separate areas totalling some 99 square miles. The villages of Ormidhia and Xylotymbou and the Dhekelia power station will be enclaves of Cypriot territory within the Sovereign Base Areas and there will be special arrangements for access to them. Akrotiri, which is too closely adjacent to the main airfield to permit of an enclave solution, will be the only village under British sovereignty. Her Majesty's Government are satisfied that, with the arrangements for training and other facilities in the Republic itself which have been agreed in full detail, the Sovereign Base Areas are adequate for our requirements.
"A point which was not susceptible of easy and rapid solution and which involved lengthy and involved consultations between all the parties was the future of the Base Areas. Her Majesty's Government's view on this is that since we have no intention of relinquishing sovereignty the question of cession does not arise. Nevertheless, in view of the importance attached by the Greek Cypriots to this issue, an understanding has been reached that should Her Majesty's Government in future decide, in view of changes in their military requirements, that sovereignty should be relinquished, it shall be transferred to the Republic of Cyprus.
"As regards the administration of the Base Areas a Declaration will be made by the United Kingdom Government describing their intentions, subject to military requirements and 936 security needs, in respect of various aspects of administration.
"It has been agreed that Her Majesty's Government will provide over the next five years a sum of £12 million. Provision is made for the amount of aid in future five-year periods to be determined, after full consultation with the Republic. In addition there will be payments and commitments made by Her Majesty's Government for particular purposes, including a special grant to the Cypriot community.
"The negotiations have been long and complicated. It has, however, proved possible on all points at issue to reach an accommodation between the essential requirements of the United Kingdom and the requests put forward by the Cypriot leaders and to achieve a settlement in full accord with the Zurich and London Agreements. I trust that these matters will now move forward swiftly to a final conclusion."
That is the end of the statement. I would add only that these have been matters of delicate negotiation over a very long period. I believe that what the House wishes to see, above all things, is the initialling of the Agreement take place on Thursday next. I should myself hesitate to give, in reply to supplementary questions, answers on detail, because I should be afraid that the interpretation by someone here might possibly raise questions out there. Perhaps, therefore, the House would wait for the White Paper and (what I imagine the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition will wish) a debate. Probably that would be the most convenient course.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I am sure that the House as a whole will join in the opening part of the noble Earl's statement. We welcome the progress which has been made in getting a final solution of this very difficult Cyprus problem. What the noble Earl has said following the official statement is, I think, reasonable. I am perfectly certain that the Cypriots having obtained such very substantial concessions from the original plans which were laid before the British Government, we all look forward to their engaging with us in a mutual effort at establishing progressive and permanent 937 goodwill between our communities. I therefore propose to ask no questions whatsoever.
The details we might have to discuss could best be left either to follow a reading of the White Paper or, if it is a question of time—I take it that Her Majesty's Government will want to produce a Bill at an early date—your Lordships might desire to examine that Bill, with the greatest sympathy but yet with all the detail that is required to make it a firm Agreement.
LORD REAMy Lords, I should like to follow the noble Viscount in saying how much we welcome the general trend. We have, of course, no intention at this time of going into further details. We wish the matter well. We cannot help feeling that as something on these lines has been talked over for so long, there perhaps, satisfaction that matters have come to a conclusion in the way they have, even if the delay has been rather longer than we had hoped would be the case. Our best hopes and wishes go towards this Agreement, which we hope will be initialled in the near future.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, I am grateful for the response of the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition and of the noble Lord, Lord Rea. My noble friend sitting beside me tells me that I made a slip of the tongue in reading on the financial settlement. What I ought to have said was:
In addition there will be payments and commitments made by Her Majesty's Government for particular purposes, including a special grant to the Turkish Cypriot community.It was merely a slip of the tongue that I happened to leave out the word "Turkish".