Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Crossbench). It was answered on Thursday, 27 March 2008.

Cyprus

Question: My Lords, while joining wholeheartedly in welcoming the steps that President Christofias, since his election, and his Turkish Cypriot opposite number, Mr Talat, have taken to revive the negotiating process aimed at reunifying the island, will the Minister confirm the importance in any resumed negotiations of the two Cypriot parties taking full ownership of the process from the outset, up to and beyond its conclusion? That way we would not again have any prospect of a party opposing the terms of a deal in the subsequent referendum. Will the Minister confirm that, in the context of an emerging settlement, Her Majesty’s Government will renew the offer made in 2003 to hand over a substantial part of the sovereign base areas to a reunited Cyprus?

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord is of course a well recognised expert on this issue. He knows that the last time there was an agreement, there was coincidentally a change of Government through elections in the Republic of Cyprus, which complicated the issue of support for the agreement. We now have a new President in Cyprus with a new and fresh mandate, who is committed to negotiations. Equally, in the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Talat, we have someone committed since he came to office to finding an agreement. The omens for both sides taking ownership of this and negotiating in complete seriousness are very high. Of course, we will do everything we can—including on the issue of the sovereign bases—to provide incentives to make such negotiations a success.

Secondary information