BOG-STANDARD REPLY BLASTED

MPS SLAMMED OVER ‘STANDARD LINE’ RESPONSES TO BRITISH RESIDENTS SOCIETY CAMPAIGN CALLING ON UK TO END ISOLATION OF NORTH CYPRUS

BRITISH MPs have been blasted for providing “standard” responses to calls for the UK to help end the isolation of the TRNC, including numerous offensive references to the Turkish “invasion” of Cyprus and describing residents from Turkey as “settlers”.

The replies from across the political spectrum to a lobbying campaign launched by the British Residents Society (BRS) highlight the huge challenge in trying to turn around decades-long entrenched UK foreign policy and prejudices regarding Cyprus.

Last month the BRS kicked off the first phase of its ambitious drive to sway the UK government’s position towards the TRNC by creating letter templates calling for an end to the “racial discrimination of Turkish Cypriots”.

The letters can be viewed online at brstrnc.com?=CT on the BRS website.

The idea for a sustained effort by the thousands of British citizens living in North Cyprus – BRS members or not – to bring about a more favourable UK stance towards the TRNC was sparked by an article penned by Cyprus Today columnist and former Conservative Party MP Stephen Day in July entitled “It’s time to rock the Foreign Office boat!”.

Over the last four weeks British citizens have been bombarding their constituency MPs in the UK and the country’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) with hundreds of letters.

Some have begun sharing the replies they have been receiving. A letter from Stephen Metcalfe, a Conservative MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, said the UK’s “position on this issue is clear and unchanged”.

Mr Metcalfe wrote that the UK “does not recognise the self-declared ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ as an independent state”.

His letter continued: “It is important to note that the responsibility for the stalemate over Cypriot reunification does not fall exclusively with Greece. Since the Turkish Invasion in 1974, settlers from

mainland Turkey have been encouraged by Turkish authorities to emigrate to Cyprus.

“As a result, around half of the population of Northern Cyprus is now comprised of mainland Turkish settlers. . . This has been an obstacle to a diplomatic situation.”

The MP added that the UK “only recognises one Cypriot state – the Republic of Cyprus – and only one government as the sole legitimate government”.

Mr Metcalfe’s anti-TRNC stance is notable given that up until August 2016 he held a one-third share in a holiday home in North Cyprus according to the UK Parliament’s “Register of Members’ Financial Interests”.

A letter from the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) Martyn Day, the MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, said that the SNP “do not recognise the sovereignty nor political legitimacy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, incorrectly adding that “this land was annexed as part of a military invasion”.

He added: “As the SNP’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Alyn Smith MP summarised, the SNP’s view [is] that Turkey is ‘illegally occupying part of an EU member state in Cyprus’,” noting that his party “strongly supports a settlement of the Cyprus problem, based on a UN-backed bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as set out in the relevant Security Council Resolutions and the High-Level Agreements”.

One BRS member said he was “totally disgusted” by the response he received from Andrew Selous, a Conservative Party MP representing South West Bedfordshire, who simply referred to his position on the Cyprus issue published on his website, which parrots the line that the “UK only recognises one Cypriot state – the Republic of Cyprus – and only one government as the sole legitimate government”.

Carolyn Harris, Labour’s MP for Swansea East, struck a more conciliatory tone in her response to a constituent, writing: “I note that the Turkish Cypriot community is recognised in Cyprus’ constitution. Therefore, although the UK does not recognise the self-declared ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, the Government should ensure that it engages with [the] Turkish Cypriot community.”

‘SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES’

Asked to comment on the BRS-led campaign, a spokesman for the British High Commission in South Nicosia told this newspaper the UK “recognises that the status quo in Cyprus causes serious difficulties for Turkish Cypriots”.

He said the UK has funded a “range of projects, including helping to modernise public administration, drafting federal laws and promoting inter-communal relations, both to help prepare for and facilitate a settlement on the island”.

“The FCDO and British Council have also helped Turkish Cypriot students access educational opportunities in the UK,” the spokesman added.

“Ultimately, the best way of resolving the challenges faced by both Cypriot communities is through a comprehensive settlement to end the division of the island.”

BRS president Peter Wilkins told Cyprus Today that “most of the responses appear to follow a standard line” and that “a number reference the ‘Turkish Invasion’ with no balanced view or comment as to what happened between 1960 and 1974”.

“Most letters conclude with a section on ‘wanting a comprehensive solution’ but without any reference to how this may

happen or who is going to initiate it,” Mr Wilkins said.

“Not one single response has yet addressed the points made in our letters regarding discrimination.

“So whilst we approached the letter writing campaign with a humanitarian focus, responses have largely been political.”

He added that “none of these responses are a surprise to us” and that it would be “naive to think that an MP would write back saying anything else”.

“This letter writing stage of the campaign is about raising awareness and bringing the topic back to MPs’ in-trays in preparation for future dialogue or parliamentary discussion,” Mr Wilkins continued.

“Having said all this, the most promising letter we have seen to date (whilst not saying anything concrete) offers a few chinks of light, and this has been sent by Leo Docherty MP who happens to be the Minister for Europe.”

Mr Wilkins said the BRS wants the letter writing campaign to continue “well into the New Year” to ensure that as many letters as possible are sent and also to “get a good spread of MPs”.

The BRS plans to start promoting the campaign to British nationals living in the UK in the New Year, Mr Wilkins said, adding that the UK government is a “key stakeholder” for the lobbying campaign.

“Our aim is to work collaboratively,” Mr Wilkins stressed. “We sent a letter to the British High Commissioner a month or two ago to ask to meet so we can brief him of our remit and intentions and to see how we could work together on this issue. To date we have not received a response.”

Mr Wilkins also urged anyone else who has received a response from an MP or the FCDO to forward it to the email address lobby@brstrnc.com “so that we can collate and analyse the responses”.