Cyprus (Hansard, 27 January 1994)

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we are committed to the search for a settlement to the Cyprus problem acceptable to both Cypriot communities. The "Set of Ideas" of the United Nations Secretary-General, endorsed in Security Council Resolutions 774 and 789, set out the basis for a single, bi-communal, bi-zonal federal republic. This remains the best hope for a solution.
1085 The package of confidence-building measures proposed by the United Nations Secretary-General is aimed at improving the atmosphere for negotiating a lasting settlement.

§ Lord Stallard
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply. It will clear up some of the misunderstanding. My Question was prompted by remarks reported to have been made by the Minister's noble friend Lady Chalker in Cyprus implying that a confederal solution could not be ruled out. That caused a great deal of consternation in Cyprus. Can the Minister tell the House when the next round of United Nations sponsored talks will take place? Can he confirm whether the Government have received any recent reports from the United Nations Secretary-General's representative for Cyprus, Mr. Joe Clark, and, if so, what responses have they made?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I ought to make it clear in response to what the noble Lord said about remarks which my noble friend might have made that we are certainly not in the business of prescribing any final details of a settlement. Any settlement has to meet the interests of both communities and have their agreement. The history of this dispute—and certainly of others—shows that a settlement imposed without that agreement will not last. It therefore must be for the individual parties to play their part in coming to any agreement. Having said that, we obviously accept that we have a significant role to play as one of the guarantor powers and because of our presence in Cyprus, and we shall continue to play that important role in making representations to the Turks, to the Turkish Cypriots and to the legitimate government in Cyprus. But in the end it has to be a matter for the Cypriots themselves to get together and to work for peace.

§ Lord Avebury
My Lords, did not the last report of the Secretary-General state that in the absence of agreement on the confidence building measures, the Security Council would have to consider what further steps to take to enforce them? Can the noble Lord give us any indication of what steps the Secretary-General or the Security Council might be able to take, such as further sanctions against the Turkish Cypriots in the North, which would compel them to accept this very modest package of measures towards reaching a final solution?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I think that the noble Lord's use of the word "compel" in terms of asking people to accept a package is possibly unacceptable. The point that I am trying to make is that if any package is going to work—and is going to work in the long term—it has to be acceptable to both sides. We shall continue to work with the United Nations and with all parties towards securing a lasting and secure settlement. It must be one with the agreement of both sides in this dispute.

§ Lord Beloff
My Lords, in my capacity as one who lectured for many years on the subject of federalism, may I ask my noble friend whether he is aware of the fact that there has never been a successful federation 1086 with only two components? It is a recipe for breakdown and deadlock. Therefore, does he agree that some other way ought to be sought of reconciling the interests of the two communities?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I am aware of my noble friend's strongly felt views on federalism which he has given to the House on many occasions. What we are saying here is that we believe that this probably is the best way forward but in the end it has to be a matter for both sides in the dispute. If we cannot find agreement between the two parties, we cannot have a secure and lasting settlement between them. There must be agreement.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, bearing in mind the extraordinarily good and remarkable work of the United Nations Good Offices Commission in trying to get both the Greek and Turkish factions to agree, first, to a two-zone federation and, from there, to take the next step of a united federation, do the Government give the UN Good Offices Commission all the support that it obviously deserves?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we have given a great deal of support to all the United Nations measures. That is why I stressed that we have supported those two United Nations resolutions and other United Nations resolutions relating to Cyprus. I have also stressed that we have played a very extensive role in Cyprus and we shall continue to play an extensive role in providing a major contribution to the United Nations force in Cyprus. I can assure the noble Lord that we are due to spend something of the order of £24.5 million this year on maintaining that force. I understand that in today's terms we have spent something of the order of £500 million since 1963 on maintaining forces in Cyprus for this very purpose.

§ Baroness Elles
My Lords, do the Government consider that there can possibly be a peaceful and stable solution as long as there are Turkish troops in the island of Cyprus?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, certainly, as the United Nations resolutions have stressed, we would like to see a reduction in all foreign troops in Cyprus. If those troops could be withdrawn, that would be one measure which could greatly assist confidence building, one hopes, among both communities.

§ Lord Monkswell
My Lords, I wonder whether the Minister can give us some clarification. In answer to an earlier supplementary question, he talked about both sides having to come to agreement, implicitly on an unequal basis, but in another answer he talked about the "legitimate government" of Cyprus. There seems to be a contradiction there. I wonder whether the Government can explain it.

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, there are two sides and those two sides must come to an agreement. There is a legitimate government in Cyprus; there is then a republic in Northern Cyprus which neither we nor any other country, with the exception of the Turks, recognise.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I was glad to hear the Minister accept that we have a special role in Cyprus that goes back to the 1960 agreement. In the light of that, surely we have some responsibility to play a pro-active part in securing a negotiated settlement in Cyprus. Can the Minister tell the House what steps the Government intend to take in the near future in the light of the discussions that are taking place in the United Nations and with the Government of the United States to secure that settlement?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I accept that we have a major role to play. I do not accept that we should be in the position of imposing a settlement on the two parties for the very reasons that I gave: the settlement must be one to which both parties agree. We shall continue to make representations to all relevant people, just as my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary made representations to the Turks when he was in Ankara the other day, and for the reasons that he will make the same representations on 2nd February to the Cypriot Government when he meets them.

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Wakeham)
My Lords, I think that we should move on.