I shall be very brief, for I wish to make only one or two observations in this debate.

The events of the last few weeks—the intervention under the treaty of guarantee by Turkey in Cyprus and the fighting that has taken place—have tended to cloud the real issue and what started off this tragic event in Cyprus. That intervention was with the full consent of the then Government, the military colonels' junta in Greece, who incited and supported the officers of the Cypriot National Guard to overthrow the legal Government of the Republic of Cyprus. It would be wrong if, in the events that have followed, we did not recognise that the guilty parties in this current tragedy are those who initiated the overthrow of the legal Government of the Republic.

I want to join with the whole House—indeed, with the rest of the country—in congratulating my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on the part that he has played on behalf of the British nation in bringing about at least an interim agreement that has established a ceasefire. It would also be right in this short debate to record my appreciation of the restraint that has been shown by the Turkish Government and, indeed, by the new régime in Greece itself. In my view, they have done all they can, within the constraints of the very strong public opinion that must be flowing in their respective countries, to de-escalate the hard fighting that was taking place.

As to the future, obviously, my right hon. Friend and all others in the world interested in restoring peace and democracy to Cyprus must keep the negotiations continuing until we find a solution to this tragedy of the split population of Cyprus. The right hon. and learned Member for Hertfordshire, East (Sir D. Walker-Smith) has referred to Mr. Denktash and Mr. Clerides. In those two Greek and Turkish citizens of Cyprus we have people who understand the communal problems of the Republic of Cyprus and can play an immense part.

I only wish that I could say the same for Mr. Makarios. In my view, it would be wrong in the immediate future for Mr. Makarios to be involved too closely in the initial negotiations that must now continue. There may well be a future for Mr. Makarios back in Cyprus, but he, too, has a responsibility for the tragedy.

It must be remembered that under his presidency the communities in Cyprus were not brought together in the way that they could have been united and integrated if the Government of the Republic had shown the right lead. So, while I have every sympathy for a democratically-elected president who is overthrown as a result of a military intervention, in the circumstances that have flowed from that and with the emergence of Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash as the prime spokesmen of the two communities, I hope that Mr. Makarios will agree that he could play a low profile rôle, at least for the immediate future.

A matter of continuing debate, particularly on my side of the House, is the future rôle of the British Armed Forces. We ought to seize this opportunity of placing on record that there must be many thousands of citizens in Cyprus who today are thanking God that there were sovereign area bases in which they could and did, take refuge from the murder and havoc that were raping the Republic of Cyprus.

It is my hope that, with the experience we have had of the importance of a British sovereign base in Cyprus and a strong British contingent in the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cyprus and elsewhere, the demands for Draconian defence cuts will at least be muted by the realisation that, if it were not for the presence of United Kingdom Armed Forces, the blood, terror and death would have been far greater than it was.

Finally, my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Scunthorpe (Mr. Ellis) touched on the subject of United Kingdom tourists who are still in the eastern Mediterranean area. I have received representations from people whose children are on holiday in Crete, for instance, and from tourists in Turkey and Greece. I hope that the Secretary of State will be able to reassure the parents and families of these holiday makers to the effect that the civil airports in Crete, Greece and Turkey are open for British tour operators to go in and out with their tourists. I hope also that he will be able to say whether he is satisfied that the British tour operators with holiday makers in these areas are discharging their undertakings and responsibilities in seeing that the tourists are properly housed and fed during any delays that may take place.

I emphasise the point made by the hon. and gallant Member for Winchester (Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles) and my hon. Friend that greater publicity should be given to a central point through which United Kingdom citizens could make inquiries about friends and relatives in Cyprus and the other areas where communications are rather delayed at the moment.

I again congratulate my right hon. Friend. He has served Britain and the world immensely in the past few days in the part that he has played in bringing peace and tranquility and in the long term, we hope, a firmer settlement.