Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar was in the United Kingdom earlier this month on the invitation of a group that has been campaigning for international recognition of northern Cyprus as an independent state.
In a September 11 meeting with British MPs at the UK Parliament, Tatar said, “I am calling on the international community to help end the unfair isolations on the Turkish Cypriot people.”
During the visit organized by the lobbying group Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus, Tatar advocated for starting “direct trade and direct flights,” and allowing Turkish Cypriot athletes to participate in international sporting events.
Those points were also brought forward by several British MPs who took part in “fact-finding delegations” to northern Cyprus organized by the same group, which has coordinated trips for more than a dozen British politicians during the past two years, an investigation by OCCRP has revealed.
Six of the politicians – four MPs and two members of the House of Lords, who participated in these trips – tabled dozens of questions about northern Cyprus in the UK parliament that align with the trip sponsors’ agenda, particularly around introducing direct flights from the UK to north Cyprus.
They declared the paid trips 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.
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.”
MP Ian Blackford, who is a member of the Committee on Standards on Public Life, which advises the prime minister, has called for an investigation by parliamentary authorities in light of OCCRP’s findings.
Failing to declare their interests violates lobbying regulations, according to Blackford.
“Let’s not forget that these are parliamentarians going to a territory that lacks legitimacy, that is subject to UN resolutions,” he said.
In April 2024, a few months before losing her parliamentary seat in Britain’s election this summer, then Conservative MP Pauline Latham put a seemingly innocuous question to the government about “potential merits of introducing direct flights” to what she referred to as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
Sammy Wilson, a sitting MP with the Democratic Unionist Party, which is based in Northern Ireland, in parliament in March 2023, wondered if the government would make an assessment of trade and other benefits of “recognising the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
Wilson also penned an opinion piece arguing that the U.K. should support independence for northern Cyprus following his trip.
MPs Brendan Clarke-Smith and Paul Bristow, who both lost their seats in July, asked questions about northern Cyprus in parliament after taking a trip there.
Records show that Bristow registered his interest in the subject before posing his question to parliament, although Clarke-Smith said he did too, but it wasn’t recorded. 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, 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.”
On May 2, Conservative Baroness Nosheena Mobarik asked “what progress they have made towards lifting sanctions on trade and travel to that region.”
Of the four MPs and two members of House of Lords, only Bristow registered his interest in the subject before posing his question to parliament in line with the lobbying regulations.
In response to OCCRP’s request for comment, Latham said she “didn’t realise” that she had to register an interest on the order paper.
The Ulster Unionist Party declined to comment on behalf of Rogan.
Mobarik told OCCRP she had registered her trip to northern Cyprus, as other participants did. However, she declined to say why she failed to register her interest in parliament before asking her question there.
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 this year. Eight of those questions were posed by Sammy Wilson.
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.
Credit: House of Commons
The Sponsors
If Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus was aiming to put its cause on the U.K. political agenda starting in 2023, it appears to have succeeded by prompting a barrage of questions by MPs.
But the lobbying group also had some help.
The visits were paid for by Cyprus Premier, The Arkın Group, Turkish Airlines, The British Residents Society, and the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce.
According to parliamentary records, Cyprus Premier Holidays Ltd, the UK company owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Dimağ Çağıner, sometimes acted on behalf of The Economic Platform for Northern Cyprus, which represented the North Cyprus Hoteliers Association, Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, Turkish Cypriot Industrialists Association and the Turkish Cypriot Contractors Association.
The day after four UK politicians departed northern Cyprus in February 2024 the UK media outlet Express ran a story about plans to develop the fenced-off city of Varosha. The story was removed days later.
The article stated that “a consortium of billionaire businesspeople from across the globe as well as some of the world’s most successful hoteliers” plan to develop Varosha into a top holiday destination with casinos, luxury hotels, restaurants and shops under a project.
“For too long America has held Las Vegas as a shining example of what can be achieved through strategic investment,” Muhammet Yaşarata, the chairman and CEO of the Paradise and Premier Group of Companies, is quoted as saying. “It is about time Europe had a contender to attract tourists from all corners of the globe,” he added, referring to developing Varosha.
Paradise and Premier Group of Companies was a brand of Cyprus Premier Holidays, a UK company owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Dimağ Çağıner, a sponsor on the Freedom and Fairness trip.
Çağıner, who also co-owns DMG Group, a conglomerate with companies invested in tourism, education, transport, property development, agriculture, and trading, is reportedly the president of the Turkish Cypriot Hoteliers’ Association. According to his bio on the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce, Yaşarata serves on the board of directors of DMG Group.
Çağıner was part of a group brought together by the Union of Turkish Bar associations that initiated the conversation about opening Varosha to settlement in February 2020. Later that year , Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ersin Tatar, who at the time was not yet the leader but the head of the Turkish Cypriot administration, announced plans to partly open Varosha, despite UN resolutions banning any attempt to settle any part of the town by people other than its inhabitants.
Çağıner and Yaşarata did not respond to requests for comment.
Another trip sponsor, the Arkin Group, also owns hotels and casinos, including two in Famagusta, and a university in the northern part of Cyprus.
The Freedom and Fairness lobbying group, claims to have gained support from 55 MPs for a letter to the UK Foreign Secretary, calling for direct flights to northern Cyprus.
Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus did not respond to a request for comment.