Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with her international counterparts to help protect the human rights of the Kurdish minority in Turkey.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We strongly support all minority groups in Turkey and encourage the Turkish authorities to safeguard their welfare and respect their human rights, in line with provisions in the Turkish constitution that protect the rights of all minorities, including Kurds. With our partners, we continue to call on Turkey to act in line with the conventions of the Council of Europe and broader democratic norms, as well as making progress on domestic judicial reforms. We also encourage full implementation of Turkey's 2021 Human Rights Action Plan for the benefit of all its citizens. We keep these issues under regular review.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department has taken in response to evidence of continued human rights abuses and persecution of Kurds, Christians, Jews, Armenians, and other minorities in Turkey.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We strongly support all minority groups in Turkey and encourage the Turkish authorities to safeguard their welfare and respect their human rights, in line with provisions in the Turkish constitution that protect the rights of religious minorities. We participated in the 2020 UN Universal Periodic Review of Turkey and pressed particularly for removing obstacles to freedom of expression, including freedom of religion or belief. We will continue to engage with Turkey on these important issues and monitor the treatment of minorities, as well as government moves to close down the People's Democratic Party (HDP).
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister has received a joint letter, dated 2 September, from community organisations representing Cypriots, Armenians, Kurds and Egyptians in the UK about the government of Turkey's military actions; and if so, what assessment they have made of that letter.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The joint letter was responded to by HM Government on 30th September 2020.
The response outlined our priority to replicate the effects of the existing EU trading relationship with Turkey as far as possible, into a bilateral arrangement by the end of the Transition Period, whilst also offering reassurance on the robustness of our policies on the important matters raised. Trade does not come at the expense of our record in upholding rights and responsibilities, which a key part of our foreign policy, and HM Government will continue to engage the Turkish Government on these issues.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Turkish counterpart on recent military activity against Kurds in Syria which has reportedly included murder, torture and rape.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are deeply concerned by the findings of the recent UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and human rights violations are still being committed against the Syrian people by all parties to the Syrian conflict. Officials have raised the allegations made against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army with the Government of Turkey. The UK continues to call on all parties to the conflict in Syria to respect international law.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reported use of white phosphorus against the Kurds by the government of Turkey.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of very worrying allegations that white phosphorous has been used against civilians in Syria. It is important that the full facts are established. The UN Commission of Inquiry has responsibility for investigating alleged violations of international law in Syria. We have repeatedly called on all parties to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law which prohibits attacks against civilians irrespective of the weapon used.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Turkish counterpart on that country's (a) invasion of Rojava and (b) attacks against the Kurds in northern Syria.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has been consistently clear with Turkey on our opposition to its military action in north-east Syria. The Prime Minister spoke to President Erdogan on the 12 and 20 October and called on Turkey to end its military operation. The Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary also conveyed this message to their Turkish counterparts while I did so with my counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Önal, on 26 October. I welcomed the fact that the US-brokered ceasefire appears to be holding and urged this to continue. We have also highlighted our serious concern about reports of violations of international humanitarian law during the military operation and reiterated our expectation that all parties respect their obligations towards the local civilian population under international humanitarian law.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the remarks made by Ögmundur Jónasson, former Minister of Justice in Iceland, at the 2019 International Peace Delegation to Imrali that serious human rights abuse in Turkey will not come to an end unless peace negotiations are resumed between Turkey and the leaders of the Kurds and other minority groups; and what steps they intend to take in response to those remarks.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Her Majesty’s Government hopes that a peace process can be resumed in the future, and has provided funding to a number of civil society organisations in Turkey seeking to build dialogue between different relevant actors on the Kurdish issue. We note Mr. Jónasson’s comments, and shall continue our support for legitimate and democratic Kurdish groups in Turkey.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with the Turkish Government on the (a) Kurds, (b) UK citizens and (c) members of the Turkish Parliament on hunger strike to protest the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Government most recently raised the issue of the ongoing hunger strikes protesting the conditions of Abdullah Ocalan's imprisonment with Turkish authorities on 13 May. While robustly condemning the ongoing violence perpetrated by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), we encourage Turkey to implement the recommendations of the report on Mr Ocalan's imprisonment produced by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In this regard we welcome the fact that Mr Ocalan was granted access to two lawyers on 2 May.
We also note the comments made by those lawyers in a subsequent press conference, that Mr Ocalan advised against his supporters continuing these hunger strikers to the point that it threatens their health . We continue to urge Turkey to uphold the human rights of detainees, including access to medical treatment where necessary.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the UK Government is taking in relation to the Turkish Government which is violating international human rights standards and breaching the regulations of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture by the continued imprisonment and torture of Kurdish political prisoner Abdullah Öcalan.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We consistently engage with the Turkish Government over human rights concerns, including on the treatment of prisoners. As my colleague Mark Field, Minister for Asia and the Pacific, made clear in the debate on the Kurds in the House on 10 April, “we expect Turkey to respect its international obligations with regard to prison conditions.” This includes acting on the recommendations of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe concerning isolation and access relating to Imrali prison where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is held. The PKK is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the EU whose violence we strongly condemn.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the President of the United States' statement on Twitter on 13 January that the United States "will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds", what discussions they have had with the government of the United States about its economic policy towards Turkey.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We engage regularly with the US on Middle East issues. As the Prime Minister has previously stated, the UK wants to see the Turkish economy flourish. Since President Trump's announcement on withdrawal from Syria we have remained in close contact with the US, Turkey and other allies.