Oral Answers to Questions

Nick de Bois Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

It is certainly urgent that those negotiations take place and, as I stressed a few minutes ago, the current discussions in the Quartet are aimed at bringing that about. While reserving our position on recognition, as I also explained earlier, it is certainly my view that a truly viable Palestinian state, able to conduct its own affairs and in control of its own territory, requires successful negotiation with Israel and will come about only by agreement.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

T4. Nearly 2,000 people remain missing in Cyprus as a result of the conflicts in 1963 and 1974. This affects Greek and Turkish Cypriots across the island. The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus has made progress, but does the Minister agree that an increased commitment and speedier resolution of this tragic issue would constitute a significant confidence-builder towards a final settlement for the island?

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. I visited the headquarters of the Committee on Missing Persons and its laboratory while I was in Cyprus a few weeks ago, and I was impressed by the work that it is doing to discover the fate of those missing people, both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot. That is morally right, because it helps the affected families to come to terms with what has happened to their loved ones, but, as my hon. Friend has said, it is also a good measure for building confidence between two communities that, sadly, have become separated by the events of recent decades.