ANKARA
The UK will continue to support UN efforts to find "common ground" over the divided island of Cyprus, the British ambassador to Turkey said Thursday.
"As a guarantor power, and a country with a lot of history in Cyprus, we feel the responsibility to support the efforts that are led by the UN secretary general, to bring about a settlement," said Dominick Chilcott, referring to the UK’s role as a guarantor for the island, along with Turkey and Greece.
Speaking to diplomatic correspondents at a virtual meeting in the capital, Ankara, Chilcott that the UK believes the division of the island "is one of the causes of much of the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean," adding: "Indeed, it is a cause of some of the problems that have existed between Turkey and the European Union."
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks and Turkey's intervention as a guarantor power.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK. The TRNC was founded in 1983.
Chilcott said: "We believe that a settlement of the Cyprus problem – and settlement, by definition means an outcome which the two communities on the island can both live with and are happy with – would transform the geostrategic picture in the Eastern Mediterranean, for the better."
He stressed that benefits from a resolution on the island for the Turkish and Greek Cypriots would be "enormous," adding that it would make the countries of the region and beyond “all feel the benefits of a more stable environment in the Eastern Mediterranean."
On a possible 5+UN informal meeting on Cyprus – including the two sides on the island, plus the three guarantor countries – Chilcott said: "We very much hope we'll be able to identify the common ground between the communities that will enable a process needed towards a settlement."
'More comprehensive Turkish-UK trade pact possible'
On the free trade agreement between the two countries signed late last year, Chilcott said both the British and Turkish companies as well as consumers in both countries are "showing a strong appetite for wanting to buy each other's products."
Noting that his country is "the second-largest export market for Turkey," he said: "We're a very significant trading partner for Turkey."
Chilcott further voiced "relief, as well as pleasure" for both countries after managing to "finalize our continuity free trade agreements in time for the first of January."
"We have a commitment to begin negotiations on a more comprehensive free trade agreement within two years. But at some point when we're ready we will return to the negotiating table with our Turkish counterparts, and see whether we can finalize an even bigger free trade agreement with all the great potential that comes," he added.
Turkey and the UK on Dec. 30 signed a historic free trade agreement near the end of the Brexit transition period. The agreement, which covers trade worth more than £18 billion ($24.3 billion), has been in force since the first day of 2021.
'Defense cooperation important in Turkish-UK relations'
On Turkey's purchase of S-400 defense missile systems from Russia, Chilcott first noted that Turkey and the UK are both NATO allies.
"We see defense cooperation and defense industry sector cooperation as important components of the bilateral relationship," he said.
Chilcott in particular cited the TFX Turkish fighter jet deal between the countries as “an extremely important project."
The countries signed deal on the pre-design phase of Turkey’s new fighter jet TFX in January 2017, during a visit by then- Prime Minister Theresa May.
"I think that shows that the UK is very committed to working together with Turkey in the defense sector, and pursuing collaborations between our defense industrial sector," he added.
Focusing on the Russian S-400s, he said NATO has a doctrine about buying equipment from Russia, adding: "The position of the UK government is that we stand by the NATO agreed position that NATO allies should not buy equipment or use equipment sourced from Russia. There are some exceptions to this, which are for countries which have legacy equipment from the days of the Cold War, from Russia. But I think those are the only exceptions."
He also expressed "hope" that Turkey in the future would consider collaboration with the British international defense industry rather than Russia.
In April 2017, when protracted efforts to buy an air defense system from the US proved futile, Turkey signed a contract with Russia to acquire its state-of-art S-400 missile shield.
US officials voiced opposition to their deployment, claiming they would be incompatible with NATO systems and would expose F-35 jets to possible Russian subterfuge.
Turkey, however, stressed that the S-400s would not be integrated into NATO systems, and poses no threat to the alliance or its armaments.
Turkish officials have repeatedly proposed a working group to examine the technical compatibility issue.
