Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments made in 2004 by the then Prime Minister on the need to “end the isolation of northern Cyprus”; and what progress they have made towards lifting sanctions on trade and travel to that region.

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. Several UN Security Council Resolutions also limit links between UK and the north of Cyprus. Within these constraints we support measures to reduce the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and regularly engage the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce on this issue. We continue to support a just and lasting Cyprus Settlement as the best means of resolving the difficulties caused by the division of the island.