The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. James Callaghan):

I thank the right hon. Member for Kinross and West Perthshire (Sir A. Douglas-Home) for the typical generosity with which he has spoken.

There is a great wealth of experience in the House on the subject of Cyprus, and this debate has revealed it. I trust that hon. Members will forgive me if I do not refer to their individual contributions, but perhaps I could pick up the points that have emerged from them. I should particularly like to mention the hon. and gallant Member for Winchester (Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles), whose foresight managed to secure a debate for us. He raised immediately the question of the safety of United Kingdom citizens, which must be one of our prime considerations.

I do not think that the debate has wholly revealed the situation in Cyprus in relation to making and keeping contact with United Kingdom citizens. The area which the Turkish forces have occupied as they say, under their rights as guarantors of the 1960 treaty of guarantee—is a war zone that has been bitterly fought over. I think that when the full casualties are known we shall realise that the degree of fighting was much greater than was expected initially. That is the basic reason why, in that area at any rate, it has not been possible to get for the constituents of, for example, my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Scunthorpe (Mr. Ellis), and others, the information that we ought normally to be able to supply. The sheer difficulty of movement has not been fully understood, although stories have appeared about the organisation of convoys.

I have seen telegrams from our own High Commissioner which have been interrupted with a comment saying "We must now retire to the cellars," and 10 minutes later the Telex continues with "We have now emerged from the cellars." People have been operating in the greatest physical danger in this situation. This applies not only to our own High Commission but to many other British subjects. We have been dealing with a war situation, and this is the only apology that I can offer. The Foreign Office, too, would like to get more information for them about British subjects.

I must pay the very greatest tribute to the High Commissioner. He has not had any particular staff reinforcement at present, for reasons that I will not go into now, but he is in very close touch with the Commander-in-Chief. Operational instructions are agreed between them and none goes out without the other being in the picture. I am satisfied that, although we hope that the worst is over, there has been very good co-ordination between them, after an original hiccough or two, as usually happens at the beginning of this kind of crisis.

As regards the citizens, the situation of the British residents in Kyrenia who decided to remain in their homes is still unsatisfactory. The Turkish military command is extremely sensitive about the operations of UNFICYP, the United Nations force, as also about the operations of our High Commissioner, although he arranged for consular visits to be paid to Kyrenia on 29th July. I understand that there is no main water supply, but restoration of electricity supplies is said to be in hand. There are complaints of harassment by soldiers and the ransacking of empty houses. I hope that these conditions will improve, but we shall need more co-operation from the Turkish military authorities if we are to satisfy a number of the inquiries made by or on behalf of British subjects.

I asked the Turkish Government to issue instructions to their military commanders that help and assistance should be forthcoming. Now that the immediate warlike situation is over, there is no reason why they should not permit facilities to be restored more easily than they felt able to do earlier in the week.

I understand that it would be possible—and I wish to thank the Turkish Government—to mount a convoy from Kyrenia if families of residents there wish to leave, but from some of the contacts which have been made it seems that families want to stay. It is their homes and properties which are involved, and if they leave what will happen to them? Many of them prefer to stay and face it out. However, it means that, if they decide to stay, we cannot get much communication with them. Therefore, the choice has to be made by them.

The High Commissioner is trying to re-establish the network of contact with British families, and that is taking place. I should like to thank my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Commonwealth and Foreign Affairs for all he has done. He should have been in Jamaica this week—not sunning himself but attending a conference there—and has made it his job to deal with the problems of British families. I emphasise that a delicate position exists in towns such as Nicosia and Famagusta which are cut off, and many individuals are unable to get out information.

Let me turn to the question of the influence of the United Kingdom. This influence flows from the position of the sovereign base areas. In addition, the mutual ties built up with the United States enabled both of us to play a significant rôle at different times during these events. The co-operation between us has been complete, and I wish to pay my tribute publicly to the work of the United States administration. It has been of great assistance indeed.

I was asked about the position of the President of the Cyprus Republic. He is the President; there is no gainsaying that. He was elected. He will state his own intentions about proceeding to Geneva or to Cyprus. That is not a matter for me. It is for him to say whether he will go. I understood last night from the Greek Foreign Minister—and I believe that he has stated this publicly—that it is not President Makarios's intention to be present at Geneva next week. But that is a matter for him and not for me, and is a matter for the Greek Cypriot community to decide. I have no doubt that Archbishop Makarios will make his own statement about his intentions. I am ready to see him in London, as he is here, before I leave for Geneva and will be pleased to listen to him. Whether or not he is in Cyprus, I am certain that he will have a great deal of influence on the discussions which are likely to take place.