British MPs arrive in Cyprus

A delegation of British MPs has arrived in Cyprus as part of a two-day official visit to the island.

The delegation belongs to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cyprus, and is led by the group’s chairwoman Caroline Noakes, member of the Conservative Party.

She is joined by fellow Conservative Party member Sir Roger Gale, and Fabian Hamilton of the Labour Party. Accompanying the group is Bambos Charalambous, who was a Labour MP and member of the shadow cabinet but is presently suspended from the party after a complaint about his conduct.

In addition, the United Kingdom’s National Federation of Cypriots’ chairman Christos Karaolis has joined the delegation on the trip.

The delegation is due to meet with President Nikos Christodoulides and House president Annita Demetriou, while also holding further meetings with House foreign affairs committee chairman Harris Georgiades and the Cypriot delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly’s chairman Aristos Damianou.

Later, they will also meet with Famagusta mayor Simos Ioannou and members of his municipal council, as well as members of the United Nations’ Peacekeeping Force (Unficyp), while also making a visit to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP)’s laboratory.

The visit comes hot on the heels of a similar visit by other British parliamentarians to the north, which took place at the weekend.

Conservative MPs Heather Wheeler, Giles Watling, and Pauline Latham, Conservative member of the House of Lords Baroness Nosheena Mobarik travelled to Cyprus alongside activists Cetin Ramadan and Rikki Williams.

They met with Turkish Cypriot Leader Ersin Tatar and the north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Zorlu Tore.