Did UK Politicians Violate Lobbying Rules With Questions About Northern Cyprus?

Shortly before losing her parliamentary seat in Britain's election this summer, Pauline Latham put a seemingly innocuous question to the government: had there been discussions about the “potential merits” of allowing direct flights to what she referred to as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”?

Nusrat Ghani, a fellow Conservative who was serving as business and trade minister, responded by pointing out that only Turkey recognizes the breakaway state on the island of Cyprus. 

Britain’s policy is that only the government of the Republic of Cyprus has the authority to allow international flights to the north, Ghani explained. “As such, it is not possible to fly directly between the U.K. and the north of Cyprus.”

As it turns out, Latham’s question came just months after a February visit to the area – which was organized by a group campaigning for international recognition of northern Cyprus as an independent state.

The group, Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus, has coordinated trips for more than a dozen British politicians during the past two years, posting photos on social media of their meetings with officials, including Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

OCCRP found that six of the politicians who participated later asked questions about northern Cyprus in parliament. They all declared the paid trip in their register of interests. However, records indicate that only one of them also registered their interest when they asked their questions, as required under parliamentary rules.

Latham, who didn’t declare her interest before asking two questions about northern Cyprus in parliament, said she “didn’t realize” that she had to do so.

“That’s one of those things I slipped up on,” she told OCCRP over the phone, adding that the visit to northern Cyprus had helped her “understand the complexities.” 

“I didn’t know the full story of northern Cyprus,” Latham said. “Those visits are worthwhile because they open your eyes to other things in the world that you didn’t know about before you went.” 

Another politician said he did declare his interest, but it was not recorded due to a “clerical error.”

Failing to declare one's interests before asking questions in parliament violates lobbying regulations, according to Ian Blackford, who previously led the group of Scottish National Party MPs in the U.K. parliament. Blackford is a current member of the Committee on Standards on Public Life, which advises the prime minister.

“There are so many red lights flashing here,” he said in an interview. “Parliamentarians are supposed to act with integrity and honesty. MPs and Lords not declaring their interests like this is the exact opposite of that.”

British politicians are not allowed to “initiate parliamentary proceedings” that could have “any financial or material benefit” for a foreign government, non-governmental organization or other agency “which has, within the previous 12 months, funded a visit they have undertaken or provided them with hospitality,” according to regulations.

“Let's not forget that these are parliamentarians going to a territory that lacks legitimacy, that is subject to U.N. resolutions,” said Blackford, who has written to parliamentary authorities calling for an investigation in light of OCCRP’s findings.

Hot Topic

Parliamentary records show that, in the entire decade leading up to 2023, the British government fielded only 15 questions containing the phrase “northern Cyprus.” 

In contrast, politicians submitted 26 questions from January 1, 2023, until the July 4 election, which knocked the Conservatives out of power and cost Latham her parliamentary seat.

Eight of those questions were posed by Sammy Wilson, a sitting MP with the Democratic Unionist Party, which is based in Northern Ireland and favors a continued union with the U.K. He also penned opinion pieces arguing that the U.K. should support independence for northern Cyprus.

Wilson did not respond to a request for comment. Records show that he did declare his trip to northern Cyprus, but failed to register his interest in the subject before querying the government in parliament. 

In March 2023, Wilson asked if the government would make an assessment of trade and other benefits the U.K. might accrue by “recognising the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”

Conservative Leo Docherty responded with the government’s position that every country other than Turkey recognizes the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority over the entire island.  

“Several UN Security Council Resolutions and other multilateral agreements also limit links between the U.K. and the north of Cyprus,” Docherty added.

The exchange cuts to the heart of the frozen conflict in Cyprus, a European Union member state lying off the Mediterranean coasts of Greece, Syria and Turkey.  

Cyprus was divided in 1974, when Turkey’s military took control of the island’s north in response to a Greek-backed coup against the Republic of Cyprus government at the time, which aimed at annexing the whole island to Greece. 

The Turkish Cypriot third of the island is now under the effective control of Turkey, which has troops stationed there. Greek Cypriots control the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus. United Nations peacekeepers have been stationed in Cyprus for decades.

In a September 11 meeting with British MPs in London, Tatar, the Turkish Cypriot leader, said he had “a new vision for the solution of Cyprus, which involves two states.” 

“I am calling on the international community to help end the unfair isolations on the Turkish Cypriot people,” Tatar said during the visit, which was organized by the Freedom and Fairness group.

Successful Campaign

In his speech, Tatar advocated for starting “direct trade and direct flights,” and allowing Turkish Cypriot athletes to participate in international sporting events.

Those same points had previously also been brought forward by MPs who took part in “fact-finding delegations” to northern Cyprus organized by the Freedom and Fairness campaign.

Aside from Wilson and Latham, two more MPs asked questions about northern Cyprus after taking a trip there: Brendan Clarke-Smith and Paul Bristow, who both lost their seats in July. Of the four MPs, records indicate that only Bristow registered his interest in the subject before posing his question to parliament.

Clarke-Smith said he registered too, but it was “probably not recorded due to a clerical error.”

“I declared everything,” he said. “Everything was on my register of interests.” 

Bristow did not respond to a request for comment.

Two members of the House of Lords also made visits to northern Cyprus, and followed up with questions in parliament without declaring their interests.

Lord Dennis Rogan of the Ulster Unionist Party, which supports Northern Ireland’s continued status as part of the U.K., asked five questions. Most recently, on January 16, he queried the government on “when they intend to review official travel advice for U.K. nationals visiting the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”

The Ulster Unionist Party declined to comment on behalf of Rogan.

On May 2, Conservative Baroness Nosheena Mobarik asked the government “what progress they have made towards lifting sanctions on trade and travel to that region.”

Mobarik told OCCRP she had registered her trip to northern Cyprus, as other participants did. However, she did not say why she failed to register her interest in parliament before asking three questions. 

“As a parliamentarian I am entitled to hold a view and it is my duty to raise issues which I deem to be an injustice. I do not seek to impose anything but simply to air that viewpoint in a legitimate and reasonable manner,” Mobarik said in an email. 

“To me the isolation and embargoes experienced by the people of Northern Cyprus is of concern,” she added.

If Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus was aiming to put its cause on the U.K. political agenda, it appears to have succeeded by prompting a barrage of questions by MPs.

But the organization also had some help.

While the group organized trips in February 2023, as well as in January and February 2024, the visits were paid for by other benefactors. Sponsors included Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, as well as a hotel group from the breakaway territory and a U.K.-registered holiday company.

The campaign also has close ties to a London-based public relations firm called College Green Group Ltd. That firm is registered as a lobbyist for Abajur Ltd, a public relations company run by Cetin Ramadan and Rikki Williams, the co-chairs of the Freedom and Fairness campaign group. Ramadan’s son works for College Green. 

Freedom and Fairness shares an IP address with College Green, which means they have the same internet server. In all, more than a dozen sites connected to College Green and its founder are registered at the same IP address as Freedom and Fairness.

The Freedom and Fairness data controller is registered at the address of College Green Group. Companies and organizations that collect information like email addresses need to register a ‘data controller’ with British regulators. 

College Green Group did not reply to a request for comment, nor did Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus.

In addition to coordinating trips for politicians to northern Cyprus, Ramadan and Williams have found ways to gain support from parliamentarians closer to home. Freedom and Fairness said in a recent summary of its activities that it got 55 MPs to sign a letter to the U.K. government.

A key point in the letter was “calling for direct flights to Northern Cyprus” – the same issue raised by Latham, the former Conservative MP, and other parliamentarians.

The Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIReN) contributed reporting