There was drama of a positive kind on a flight taking evacuees from Afghanistan to Birmingham. One of the refugees, 26-year-old Soman Noori, went into labour on a Turkish Airlines flight from Dubai to Birmingham. The Afghan refugee, who had left Kabul with her husband and two young children the previous day, gave birth to […]
Earlier this month, a ‘Cyprus plan’ started to appear in a variety of publications in Cyprus, including Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Düzen. The high level ‘7-point plan’ outlines a confederal solution loosely based on the Belgian model for Cyprus, has been attributed to the United Kingdom (UK) – one of Cyprus’ thee Guarantor Powers, with […]
Labour stands accused of “anti-Turkish bias” after a letter about Cyprus sent by Shadow Ministers Fabian Hamilton and Catherine West to Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, used offensive language and failed to incorporate Turkish Cypriot views. Hamilton, the Shadow Minister for Peace & Disarmament, and West, the Shadow Minister for Europe and the Americas, incensed […]
Ersin Tatar, the President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), met with Dominic Raab, the British Foreign Secretary, at the TRNC White House on Thursday afternoon. The warm atmosphere of the meeting, which ran for over an hour, was reflected in the two men taking a stroll and then enjoying tea in the […]
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is due in Cyprus on Thursday, 4 February, to meet with the two Cypriot presidents Ersin Tatar of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) and Nicos Anastasiades of South Cyprus. Dominic Raab’s 24-hour visit will also include a meeting with Elizabeth Spehar, the head of United Nations Peacekeeping Force […]
A whirlwind visit to Britain by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu last week was followed by news that the two countries are “close to finalising” a free trade agreement (FTA). Mr Çavuşoğlu told the Financial Times that negotiations between the two countries on key areas were progressing well: “If you look at the volume of […]
Britain has received the first planeload of emergency equipment sent by Turkey to help in the fight against coronavirus. The items, despatched by Turkey’s Health Ministry in Ankara, include personal protective equipment such as surgical masks and hazmat suits. A second flight is scheduled for Saturday. The boxes bore the words of 13th century Sufi Mevlana […]
Over 120 British nationals, many of them of Turkish Cypriot descent, are currently stranded in North Cyprus, unable to get any flights back to the UK. All international flights on both sides of the Cyprus divide were grounded In March to contain the coronavirus pandemic. In the same month, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced […]
Dominic Raab, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, held talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara on Tuesday. The meeting covered a range of issues, including growing trade between the two countries, and current regional and international developments, with Syria topping the agenda. Following the meeting, the two ministers […]
