Cyprus

EDM number 1504 in 1993-94, proposed by Keith Speed on 13/07/1994.

That this House notes that 20 years ago on 20th July Turkey intervened in Cyprus in accordance with international law; deplores the racist behaviour of the Greek Cypriots during the previous 11 years when they murdered hundreds of Turkish Cypriot men, women and children, and reduced the Turkish Cypriot population to near starvation; deplores the invasion of Cyprus by Greek troops on 15th July 1974; and trusts that Turkey will maintain troops there for so long as necessary to prevent any recurrence of such behaviour; welcomes the acceptance by President Denktas of the UN Confidence Building Measures on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots, and condemns the Greek Cypriot leader for threatening resignation if verbal assurances given by the United Nations to the Turkish Cypriots are put in writing, thereby making it impossible for further progress to be made; and calls upon the Prime Minister to invite President Denktas to London for talks, and to make the following Downing Street Declaration, 'It would be wrong to attempt to impose, or to persuade others to impose, a united Cyprus in the absence of the freely-given consent of a majority of the people of Northern Cyprus. The British Governme nt agree that it is for the people of the island of Cyprus as a whole, by agreement between the two parts respectively, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Cyprus if that is their wish. The British Government will encourage, facilitate, and enable, all the people living in Cyprus to achieve agreement - not agreement of a particular character, but simply agreement, through a process of dialogue and cooperation based on full respect for the identities and equal political rights of both the people of the island.'.

This motion has been signed by a total of 23 MPs.