Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) his French counterpart on France's defence cooperation agreement with Southern Cyprus and use of the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base and (b) President Tatar of Northern Cyprus on a potential defence agreement between the UK and Northern Cyprus.

While our bilateral military cooperation is strong, the Foreign Secretary has not recently discussed France's defence cooperation agreement with Cyprus with his French counterpart. In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. The UK recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority of Cyprus and has no intention of discussing a potential defence agreement with the Turkish Cypriot administration.