Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have held discussions with officials in Northern Cyprus concerning security arrangements at Ercan International Airport; if so, what were the (1) objectives, and (2) outcomes, of those discussions; and if they have not held such discussions, why not.

The Government has not discussed security arrangements at Ercan with officials in the northern part of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus has not designated Ercan as an airport under the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The Court of Appeal has ruled that direct flights from Ercan to the UK therefore cannot take place. Flights from Ercan to the UK land first in Turkey where passengers, their baggage, and any cargo are screened before the aircraft continues on to the UK.