For the attention of:
Rt. Hon Boris Johnson MP, Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary,
Rt. Hon Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister for Europe and the Americas,
Rt. Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Leader of the House of Commons
Rt, Hon Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Transport,
And
The Cyprus desk in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Thank you, Fanoulla Argyrou, Researcher/Journalist/Author, London.
Published
Open LETTER TO Iain Duncan Smith MP
Your ignorance astounds and does not befit a member of Parliament
http://www.eleftheria.co.uk/pdf/628201884932Eleftheria_938.pdf 28 June 2018 page 16
Open letter to Iain Duncan Smith MP
Dear Mr Iain Duncan Smith,
Your ignorance astounds and does not befit a Member of Parliament
During the interview you gave, in the House of Commons, on 26 April 2018 to Mr. Cetin Ramatan for Londra Gundem, you made some misleading statements and gave the viewers false hopes over the possibility of direct flights from the airport of Tympou (renamed “Ercan” by the Turks) in the occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus which is operated by the Turks since the two Turkish invasions in 1974.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7dINOiPvk&feature=youtu.be
“…Being outside the EU we make our own rules with regards who we recognize and who don’t recognize…”, you said. This is an unprecedented misleading statement which does not befit a Member of Parliament. Such recognition is unlawful and so ruled the Appeal Court on 12 October 2010.
And on the 19 June 2018 you posted on your website:
“I was delighted to join in the celebrations at the Cultural Festival… I am doing my level best to urge the government, the Foreign Office and the international community to recognize the problem facing families in my constituency and their ability to fly directly to Northern Cyprus.”
https://www.iainduncansmith.org.uk/content/turkish-cypriot-cultural-festival
The British Government Mr Iain Duncan Smith, and the international community do not recognize the illegal entity in the occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus i.e. “Northern Cyprus”. Two UN Security Council Resolutions 541 of 1983 and 550 of 1984 both drafted and signed by the United Kingdom refer.
SC R. 550 – “…Reiterates the call upon all States not to recognize the purported state of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” set up by secessionist acts and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity. Calls upon all States to respect the sovereignty, independence territorial integrity, unity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus…”
The non-recognition of the part of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish illegal invasion and occupation since 1974 has nothing to do with the European Union. It has to do with fragrant violations of international law and the obligations of the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Guarantee, which Sir Hugh Foot signed on behalf of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, on 16 August 1960 in Nicosia.
The non-recognition of the occupied airport of Tympou (re-named “Ercan” by the Turks) is not allowed by the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation which is an International Convention and not a European one! It was signed on 7 December 1944 by 52 States including the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America, the Government of Greece and the Government of Turkey. It came into being on 4 April 1947.
https://www.icao.int/publications/pages/doc7300.aspx
https://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/7300_orig.pdf
I hereby draw your attention to the decision of the Court of Appeal of 12 October 2010.
The Court has effectively confirmed that the hands of the UK Government are tied by both international law and domestic law. Direct flights from the area of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish invasion and occupation cannot lawfully take place. It is as simple as that.
The legal position is as set out in the judgment of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in R (Yollari & Anor) v Secretary of State for Transport & Anor [2010] EWCA Civ 1093. Lord Justice Richards, with whom the other two judges agreed, referred to “the invasion of the island by Turkish troops in 1974” (paragraph 8) before reaching a number of conclusions. A key conclusion is the one at paragraph 69 quoted below, which underlines the unlawfulness of any direct flights from the UK to the occupied areas. To quote Lord Justice Richards:
“… I agree with the judge [in the High Court] that the grant of the permits sought by the appellants would constitute a breach of the United Kingdom’s obligation to respect the rights of the RoC under the Chicago Convention [1944] and would in consequence be unlawful as a matter of domestic law. The judge was right to uphold the Secretary of State’s decision and to dismiss the claim for judicial review on this basis.”
RoC = Republic of Cyprus
LORD JUSTICE RICHARDS also stated that “the granting of the permits sought would constitute a breach of the United Kingdom’s obligation to respect the rights of the Republic of Cyprus and would be unlawful”.
Source: www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2010/1093.html
On 3 August 2017, in answer to a question by Lord Maginnis, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responded as follows: ‘On the question of direct flights, the UK Court of Appeal has confirmed that direct flights from the UK to Ercan would breach obligations under international law.’
On 25 September 2017, Lord Ahmad of the FCO added the following in answer to a question by Lord Sharkey. This effectively confirmed that the UK had imposed new security checks on flights going to the occupied area via Turkey.
“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.”
In conclusion and as this newspaper has noted in its Leader last week in its Greek Section, you appear to be supporting unlawfulness.
Fanoulla Argyrou
Researcher/journalist/author London
And refugee from occupied Neapolis Nicosia – Cyprus
source:http://www.eleftheria.co.uk/pdf/628201884932Eleftheria_938.pdf
