20
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
9 December 1975]
Mr D F HAWLEY, CMG, MBE,
[Continued Mr K C THOM, Mr A C GOODISON, CMG, Mr P L O'KEEFFE, CVO, Mr G W HOPCROFT, Mr D F MILTON and Mr D F BURDEN
tee dealing with safety and a campaign against violence
violence and crime?(Mr O'Keeffe.) The answer is yes. The for- mation of the mutual aid committees, of which I think there are 2,000, and their grouping into area committees is, in fact, a device that has been introduced under the present Governor, * * *
Chairman
99. Perhaps I could ask you a question on Cyprus. It does seem to be taking a long time to secure compensation not only for the British Government's pro- perty, but also the property of the British citizens which has been lost or blighted in the Turkish invasion. Are you satis- fied we are pursuing it as hard as we can? (Mr Hawley.) I think we are pursuing it as hard as we can. It is one of the subjects for which I am presently responsible. I have been involved in some of the talks we have had with the Turks on the subject. We have made repeated representations to the Turkish Government over the last 17 months. Mr Hattersley talked with Mr Caglayangil in May and the Prime Minister and Mr Callaghan raised the matter with Mr Demirel in Brussels shortly afterwards. These representations have covered both private and official losses. It was pursuant to that that the Turkish MFA sent an official to London in June for talks and we made known our views and expecta- tions very forcefully. Subsequent to that Mr Denktash indicated that he plans to set up a claims commission with a Turkish adviser sitting on it. This was a new idea because previously we had looked to the Turkish Government to provide compensation in some cases and to the Government of Cyprus in others. 'The latest information is that the Claims Commission which will be set up by Mr Denktash may start work early in the new year, and will be headed by a Turkish Cypriot high court judge. We shall continue to press the Turkish autho- rities, or if he is going to assume respon- sibility for it, Mr Denktash.
100. We are glad to hear that. We all get letters from constituents who had houses there. It seems to me that if you braved the invasion and stayed in your house things were all right; it was when a house was left empty that the trouble started. It may even be a holiday home
that suffered?This was my impres- sion when I visited Cyprus in May. When the British had stayed put, for the most part the Turks had respected the Englishman's castle, but if it were abandoned then looting did take place.
101. We did see some of the quarters for United Kingdom staff occupied in Nicosia, and the ones we saw were, on the whole, fairly satisfactory. Are you satisfied with the quarters you have for your United Kingdom staff in Nicosia?
Broadly speaking, yes. (Mr Thom.) They are satisfactory. We would have wished to fit some air conditioning into some of them. Cases are being pursued with the Treasury but so far without success. The quarters themselves are up to standard bearing in mind that a fair amount of shuffling took place, and it was not always possible to replace premises with like. We lost a number of properties.
Mr Roper
on
102. Is there a problem there accommodation, that the FCO staff are treated differently from servicemen as far as air conditioning is concerned, in particular?- -(Mr Hawley.) This is not our understanding. Our understanding is that our conditions are, to some ex- tent, tied to servicemen's conditions and were it not for that tie the THI figures are such that air conditioning would be authorised. That is the Temperature and Humidity Index.
103. I understood some of the service- men do have air conditioning and your people do not?- (Mr Thom.) I think this may have arisen owing to the exis- tence of air conditioning in a hospital at Dhekhalia, and we have certainly quoted this instance as supporting our contention that what is provided for them should be provided for us. The answer was that the conditioning in this case was achieved some time ago, perhaps not altogether regularly, and our case was not made.
104. There is a problem of the airport if there were a failure between the Greeks and the Turks to agree on its future use. Would there be any possi- bility of the British Government being prepared to run it or is there the possi- bility of something being done to release the aircraft at present stranded on the airfield? (Mr Hawley.) Could we take