Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether officials at his Department held discussions with representatives of (a) the US National Security Agency and (b) GCHQ on influencing UN Security Council vote in March 2003 on the second resolution to authorise intervention in Iraq.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
The Government deplores the leaking of any classified information, wherever it occurs. Such leaks can make the work of maintaining the security of our own country and that of our allies more difficult.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the article entitled Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war, published in the Observer on 2 March 2003, whether his Department undertook surveillance of representatives at the UN from (a) Angola, (b) Cameroon, (c) Chile, (d) Bulgaria, (e) Guinea and (f) Pakistan prior to the UN Security Council vote on a second resolution on intervention in Iraq.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
The Government deplores the leaking of any classified information, wherever it occurs. Such leaks can make the work of maintaining the security of our own country and that of our allies more difficult.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department received a memo on 31 January 2003 from Frank Koza, Defence Chief of Staff (Regional Targets) entitled Reflections of Iraq Debate/Votes at UN-RT Actions + Potential for Related Contributions and published in The Observer on 2 March 2003, asking for information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
The Government deplores the leaking of any classified information, wherever it occurs. Such leaks can make the work of maintaining the security of our own country and that of our allies more difficult.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Government holds on an operation to influence a vote at the UN Security Council on a second resolution to authorise an intervention in Iraq in March 2003.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
The Government deplores the leaking of any classified information, wherever it occurs. Such leaks can make the work of maintaining the security of our own country and that of our allies more difficult.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Government holds on discussions between GCHQ and the US National Security Agency on surveillance of delegates to the UN in 2003.
Answered by Alan Duncan
It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has raised the cases of Leyla Guven MP and Abdullah Ocalan with (a) the Turkish Government and (b) his European counterparts.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Our Embassy in Ankara raised concerns over the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) hunger strikers, including Leyla Guven, and the prison conditions of Abdullah Ocalan in discussions with Turkish officials in mid-January. We note that Leyla Guven was released from custody on 25 January. We regularly discuss such issues with European and other like-minded partners.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on the lack of access to legal representation for political prisoners in that country.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The State of Emergency following the failed coup attempt in 2016 imposed certain limits on access to lawyers but those were lifted in June 2018. In discussions with Turkish Ministers we have stressed the importance of addressing issues in the legal system and accelerating the resolution of political cases.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of political prisoners on hunger strike in Turkey.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The People's Democratic Party (HDP) have stated that there are around 240 prisoners currently on hunger strike.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department was made aware of Russian interference in UK elections.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As the Prime Minister made clear in her Mansion House speech, Russia makes aggressive use of cyber capability to mount sustained campaigns of espionage and disruption. To date, we have not seen evidence of successful interference in UK elections. We take any allegations of interference in UK democratic processes by a foreign government extremely seriously.