Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he has taken to help ensure the (a) security and (b) safety of the electoral process for the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey in May 2023.

We are monitoring the run-up to the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey on May 14 and are in regular discussion with the Turkish electoral authorities, the government, opposition parties, civil society groups and the Turkish media. We have met with Turkey's high election board and stressed the need for the elections to be carried out in a free and fair manner in safe and secure conditions. We will continue our dialogue with Turkey throughout the process. Following an invitation from the Turkish authorities and in accordance with its mandate, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has deployed an Election Observation Mission to the 14 May 2023 general elections and the Council of Europe will also send an observation mission. The Government is not sending election observers. However, British parliamentarians will join observation missions mounted by both the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.