Eastern Mediterranean: Turkey, Cyprus and Syria

Baroness Morgan of Ely Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2014 Grand Committee

[Baroness Morgan of Ely (Lab)]

I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, on securing this debate and on ensuring that we maintain our attention on the unfolding situation occurring in this difficult and sensitive part of the world. Events in the past week have underlined how vulnerable and unstable the political situation is in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The one thing that has become increasingly clear is that instability in one country in this region is bound to spill over into other countries, with violence and masses of refugees and displaced people—some of whom join up with extremist groups causing chaos in the region—fleeing their countries.

We must be extremely vigilant and do all that we can to ensure that the region does not fall further into sectarian violence, so that we end up with religious communities who have previously tolerated each other being forced to choose sides by extremists who have an interest in fuelling the situation. Ultimately, what is important is that minorities in any country are treated with respect. I will focus my comments on the three countries mentioned in the Question although I must admit, like my noble friend Lord Anderson, that I was a little puzzled by why these three specific ones were chosen.

The situation of Syria continues to produce victims by the million. The horrific statistics that the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, pointed out underlined that. The UN stopped counting the number of dead in July last year when they reached the figure of 100,000. Millions of refugees have sought security in neighbouring countries and hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced, struggling to survive because of the widespread destruction of basic services and with vital infrastructure in a state of near collapse. Neighbouring countries, already suffering from a lack of political or economic stability, are reeling from the impact of the Syrian conflict as refugees continue to flow in.

As the conflict drags on, the inability of those neighbouring countries to cover the basic needs of refugees and the local population could easily result in a further aggravation of the humanitarian crisis. While the UK Government have been forthcoming in their support for humanitarian aid, it is worth asking what they are doing to encourage other countries to step up and take their share of responsibility. Will Her Majesty’s Government support a fresh donor conference urgently to secure the additional funds, and if not can the Minister set out for the Committee the mechanism by which she judges that the funding gap in relation to humanitarian aid can be better closed?

The question beyond this remains. We can use some sticking plaster for the crisis but the blood will continue to flow, so what is the political strategy in the area beyond aid support? We seem to have seen an end to the Geneva process, and the UN focus seems to be entirely devoted to humanitarian aid. Can the Minister inform us of the latest developments in the London 11 group?

The sham presidential election of Bashar al-Assad in June served to underline how advances by anti-Assad militants have been reversed in recent months. It will be interesting to see how events in Iraq, with the takeover of Mosul and the fear in Iran of the possible consequences, might force a rethink of how Iran reviews the situation in the wider region. The recent developments in Iraq are already affecting Syria. The advance by a few thousand ISIS fighters on Iraq has been carried out from their base in Syria’s Raqqa province.

Turkey remains a central and pivotal country in the eastern Mediterranean. One of my first votes in the European Parliament back in 1994 was on whether we should agree to a customs union. I remember vividly sitting through hours of debate. It was difficult for me because I had just finished being secretary of a branch of Amnesty International, which I joined because I had seen “Midnight Express”, a film produced by my noble friend Lord Puttnam, and I was aware of the country’s dismal record on human rights and the death penalty in particular. Turkey’s human rights record has improved significantly since then, although there have been worrying developments in recent years, with increasing authoritarian tendencies by Prime Minister Erdogan and the sharp slowdown—if not regression—of reforms essential if Turkey wants to attain EU membership. Can the Minister update us on the latest situation regarding Turkish accession to the EU? Recent developments in Turkey which undermine the independence of the judiciary and freedom of expression are of concern, in addition to lawmaking. There is an urgent need for the country to re-engage fully in the reform process in line with European standards.

Turkey has been actively engaged with developments in Syria, hosting the leaders of the political opposition in Istanbul, which has endeared it to some countries in the region and led it to make enemies of others. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has alienated most Arab states by siding with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi. He has also been slow to reconcile with Israel despite a partial apology by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the deaths of Turkish citizens during the Gaza flotilla incident in 2010. At the same time, he is in direct conflict with Iraq and Russia over his robust support for the Syrian opposition, although, as the noble Baroness indicated, the relationship with Iran is improving.

Turkey needs Europe more than ever to stimulate structural reforms, such as modernising the education system, which is critical to future prosperity and stability. Europe remains the primary source of technology, know-how and inspiration for governance and institutional reforms. That taking of sides by a country previously defined as secular, uniquely for the region despite its huge Muslim population, has probably compromised its ability to take as leading a role as it might have hoped in the past as a pivotal state that could accommodate both western and Middle Eastern approaches. However, an interesting relationship has developed between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq. Turkey may yet be of immense importance in events unfolding in Iraq.

In Cyprus, attempts to try to attain a stable and negotiated settlement for the divided island seem to advance and then retreat over the decades. Traditional UN peacekeeping has been successful in that it has prevented the Cyprus conflict from igniting into a wider Greco-Turkish dispute, but it has failed so far to bring the two communities together, and to an extent the divisions have become institutionalised. The joint declaration reached in February gives great hope for talks, stating that a settlement would have a positive impact on the entire region, with an agreement to respect each other’s distinct identity and committing to a common future in a united Cyprus within the European Union. That has allowed the resumption of formal settlement talks to start again in earnest. There are still, however, some significant and continuing areas for disagreement on key issues such as sovereignty, territory, return of refugees and compensation for property. What is being done to speed up the process of appointing a new UN special adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, which will bring a new sense of urgency to the talks? On the whole, the situation in Cyprus provides a tiny beacon of hope while the political volatility of the region seems to be worsening.

Nobody can deny how difficult the situation is in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. We need to keep our focus on those innocent victims in the upheaval and crisis, and to ensure that the international community delivers the essential aid to keep them alive. Ultimately we need a political solution, and the international community needs to use all the tools it has available to ensure that the right people sit around the table and thrash out a long-term agreement which will bring peace and stability to that difficult region. The final additional question is whether we will in time see in the region the development of pluralistic democratic politics, where people live together as citizens rather than dividing along sectarian, ethnic or religious lines.