§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many qualified interpreters in(a) Arabic and (b) Turkish are currently serving in (i) the armed forces and (ii) the reserves; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThere are 45 qualified interpreters in Arabic and seven in Turkish currently serving in the regular forces. We do not hold central records of the number of qualified interpreters in the reserve forces, but they are know to number at least 27 in Arabic and one in Turkish.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many interpreters in(a) Arabic and (b) 464W Turkish are currently serving with the British forces in (i) south-eastern Turkey and (ii) northern Iraq; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonEleven Arabic-speaking members of the armed forces are currently deployed to south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq on operation Haven. Six are trained to linguist or interpreter standard and two also have Turkish language qualifications. The other five are students on the services' long Arabic language course. They are deployed within Turkey and northern Iraq as required. Local interpreters are employed as necessary.