Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure a free and fair election in Turkey.

We have consistently encouraged Turkey to invite international election monitors to the forthcoming local elections. We are pleased that a delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has been invited to do so. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have engaged with the head of the delegation in advance of his visit. We will continue to urge Turkey to act upon the recommendations made by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe following the Presidential elections in June 2018, and will consider any further recommendations the Council of Europe may produce following the local elections.