Cyprus

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

On the latter point, it certainly is the Government’s view that the greatest care should be exercised. A complex and sensitive issue of the Cyprus problem is the question of title deeds. Our advice has been to give very clear guidance and to take great caution when purchasing property in Cyprus. I cannot comment particularly on the Orams case at the moment, but the British High Commissioner in Cyprus has raised this issue with the Republic of Cyprus Ministry of the Interior and received assurances that the Cypriot Government intend to introduce a Bill to address the overall problem of finding that the people from whom you bought a property were not the legal owners. I recognise that the issue has affected a large number of British citizens who purchased property in Cyprus. Ultimately, this is a matter for the Cypriot Government.

[Lord Maginnis of Drumglass]

My Lords, does the Foreign Office remember what the Akritas plan was? If so, will the Minister tell the House where else within our sphere of influence has an entire national identity been shunned and isolated, as the Turkish Cypriots’ has been for 37 years for resisting the Greek Cypriot plan to ethnically cleanse them?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I think that I can safely say that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a pretty long memory about many of these issues. In some cases, as we know from a recent announcement, some of the files were not immediately available but recently have become available about those dark days in the past. The noble Lord is taking us back to many plans and arrangements, going right back to EOKA itself, which ended in tragedy and difficulty and have underpinned the situation we have today of a divided island. The best thing to do is to put these matters behind us and try to build a positive and creative atmosphere in which we can overcome the still considerable range of problems to bring about the end of this island partition and the proper emergence of a bizonal, federal Cyprus.