Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (left) with Conservative Edmonton candidate Gönül Daniels and Enfield North candidate Nick de Bois
Britain has a standing invitation to the Turkish Cypriot president that has not been taken up, the foreign secretary has said.
Philip Hammond told Londra Gazete that his country was “absolutely willing” to engage with the North Cypriot leader but that a visit had not yet taken place.
On his country’s position on with Turkey, he said his country finds that “megaphone diplomacy doesn’t work for us” and that Britain preferred to be “candid, critical friends in private”.
Mr Hammond was speaking to Londra Gazete as part of a short campaign stop in support of Nick de Bois, the Conservative candidate for Enfield North.
Asked about the results of last Sunday’s Turkish Cypriot presidential election, the foreign secretary said it was “for the Turkish Cypriot community in Cyprus to makes its own decision about who represents it”.
He said: “We are absolutely willing to engage with the representative of the Turkish Cypriot community in Cyprus and indeed we’ve invited the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community to come to London and to hold meetings with us in London.
“So far that invitation hasn’t been taken up but it remains on the table.”
Londra Gazete also asked Mr Hammond whether he understood the concerns of British Turks who feel their government is not vocal enough on controversies such as the Turkish government response to the Gezi Park protests.
He said the British Foreign Office had approach to diplomacy that the more outspoken US State Department: “We generally find that megaphone diplomacy doesn’t work for us – perhaps it works better for the Americans, if you’re the Americans you can do things differently sometimes.
“We always try to work with our partners and friends, be candid, critical friends in private, advise them where we think that they are perhaps handling things in a way that isn’t the best, urging them to stick to the values that we consider important and of course in Turkey’s case, very importantly, remind them of the commitment that they have made to Europe’s values in the Ankara agreement.
“I don’t think it’s in the interests of British Turks any more than it is in the interests of the rest of the British population to take steps that would fracture our very good relationships with the Turkish government.
“We want to encourage Turkey to get it right and we think the best way to do that is to talk privately to our friends and partners.”
Mr Hammond also backed Mr de Bois, describing him as a “shining star who does a great job in representing the views” of people in Enfield North.
