HL Deb 22 May 1980 vol 409 cc1026-8

3.4 p.m.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much has been paid to the Government of Cyprus since 1965 for the use of the two sovereign bases on its territory.

LORD TREFGARNE

My Lords, the sovereign base areas are not on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus. They are sovereign British territory. No fees or rent are payable for their use.

LORD BROCKWAY

Yes, my Lords; but is not this quite extraordinary? Do not the British bases occupy 99 square miles of the territory of Cyprus, and surely they are on that island as foreign sovereign bases? Surely we should be paying something to the Cyprus Government for the existence of the bases there.

LORD TREFGARNE

No, my Lords; what we should be doing is complying with the agreement which we entered into with the Cyprus Government in respect of the use of those bases. That agreement, which was signed in 1960, did not provide for the payment of rent.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, were not the circumstances of 1960 very different from the circumstances of today? Has there not since been the Turkish invasion, and did we, as a guarantor of the integrity of Cyprus, not fail to defend it under those circumstances?

LORD TREFGARNE

No, my Lords; we met all our obligations to the Republic of Cyprus. However, with regard to the bases, which are the subject of the Question on the Order Paper, there is no question of Britain having failed to meet her obligations. There was some aid promised under the 1960 agreement, which was given. Apart from substantial contributions to refugee relief and to the United Nations' peacekeeping forces in Cyprus, a million loan was offered in 1978.

LORD PAGET of NORTHAMPTON

My Lords, is not one of the differences between now and 1960 the fact that in 1960 Cyprus was a far happier and more prosperous place?

LORD TREFGARNE

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right in suggesting that, unhappily, there are now some difficulties in Cyprus.

LORD SPENS

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what has happened to a number of personal possessions belonging to Turkish Cypriots who had been formerly employed in the British bases, and who had to go to the North? They have not been able to recover those possessions, which include motor cars, tractors, sporting weapons and other items of that kind.

LORD TREFGARNE

My Lords, it is the case that the movable assets to which the noble Lord refers could be returned to the Turkish Cypriots in question only by being transported through Greek-Turkish territory, and thus that return would need the agreement of those Cypriots. It has not been possible to obtain that agreement for the moment, but we hope that it will be possible to do so in the context of an overall agreement.

LORD CARADON

My Lords, since reference has been made to the arrangements of 1960, may I refer in particular to the Treaty of Guarantee of 1960, which I signed on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, which provided that the British Government would stand against either annexation of any part of the island to Greece or Turkey or partition of the island? Can we be told whether the present Government support that obligation which we accepted at that time, and are not prepared either to neglect it or to reject it?

LORD TREFGARNE

My Lords, it would certainly be possible for the Government to say that, but not within the context of the Question on the Order Paper.

LORD MAYBRAY-KING

My Lords, is it not time that the co-chairmen who guaranteed the sovereignty of Cyprus—ourselves, Greece and Turkey—got together again to try to solve this terrible problem?

LORD TREFGARNE

My Lords, that point, too, is outside the scope of the Question on the Order Paper.