§ 2.53 p.m.
§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of their discussions with Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey.
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)My Lords, on 20th November, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and Mr Erdogan discussed AKP's plans for government and commitment to reform, particularly in the area of human rights. The Prime Minister underlined the United Kingdom's strong support for Turkey's EU candidature. He stressed that there was now a unique opportunity, ahead of the Copenhagen summit, to make progress over European defence issues and to resolve the problem of Cyprus on the basis of the United Nations Secretary-General's recent comprehensive proposals.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, considering that the European Commission has just found that Turkey does not fully meet the political criteria for membership and that many of the reforms have significant limitations, does not the noble Baroness agree that it would be inappropriate for the Copenhagen summit to set a date for the start of accession negotiations? Will the Government do their best at the Copenhagen summit and elsewhere to press Turkey to have a proper internationally approved plan for the return of several hundred thousand villagers 1139 who were displaced from their homes in the southeast? They are still waiting to return, despite the fact that the European Court has ruled in their favour, and no compensation has yet been paid to them by the Turkish Government.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, the Turkish Government are moving towards the Copenhagen criteria, and I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, will be pleased to know that yesterday the Turkish Cabinet passed a further package of reforms, which has been sent to the Turkish Parliament. The reforms are designed to address the shortcomings highlighted in the Commission's report, to which the noble Lord referred. They deal with issues such as human rights, torture and ill treatment, incommunicado detention and rights of access to lawyers and many others.
The reforms will, we hope, be passed before the Copenhagen summit, which is next week. I understood from a conversation that I had with Her Majesty's Ambassador in Ankara only this morning that a further reform package was expected to be on the way.
§ Lord Howell of GuildfordMy Lords, in contrast to the view of the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, and the view of the ex-president of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, should we not strongly welcome the fact that Turkey has, for the first time in many years, a strong majority government? Should we not recognise that, far from being a burden on the European Union, Turkey can, in the longer term and at the appropriate time, be a major security and economic bulwark for the European Union? Should not Her Majesty's Government take every possible step to encourage the offering of a firm date, in due course, to Turkey at the Copenhagen summit?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, I hope that the noble Lord will be delighted—and not too embarrassed—to know that his views are entirely consonant with those of my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said:
I hope that it will be possible to make a commitment to that country"—Turkey—at the European Council in Copenhagen. I hope that we will set a firm date for negotiations, that they will form part of a package to lay to rest some of the outstanding difficulties on European defence and that we shall at least find a proper way forward on Cyprus".—[Official Report, Commons, 25/11/02; col. 44.]The noble Lord is giving me the thumbs-up, so I reckon that he is very much in agreement with my right honourable friend.
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, as one whose thumbs are firmly horizontal at the moment, I ask the Minister whether what is going on in Turkish-occupied Cyprus is a matter of relevance and concern. What views are 1140 the Government expressing to the Turkish Government on how that should improve before their admission to the Community?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, as my right honourable friend made clear in the statement that I just read, we hope that the issue of Cyprus will be resolved. The new Turkish Government have signalled clearly that they want to solve the Cyprus problem as soon as possible. For our part, we are urging them to do all that they can before the European Council meeting next week, for the sake of all those in Cyprus.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, will the noble Baroness answer the second question that I put to her? Will the Government press the Turkish authorities to allow the displaced villagers of the south-east—who number between 380,000 and a million, according to Human Rights Watch—to return to their original villages and pay them compensation for the disturbance that they have suffered?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, I cannot tell the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, whether that issue is addressed in what I understand to be 36 key legislative changes going before the Turkish Parliament or whether it will be addressed in the smaller package of reforms that, I understand from our ambassador, will be brought forward shortly. I will certainly make the noble Lord's views clear to my right honourable friend in another place who deals with those issues.
I hope that the noble Lord will acknowledge that what has happened in the past 24 hours or so in Turkey will be significant in making reforms in areas about which, I know, he has strong views.