Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the flow of information between the UK and Turkey in the light of the actions taken by the government of Turkey following the attempted coup in that country.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK Government continues to have a regular dialogue with the Turkish Government following the attempted coup on 15 July, at both official and ministerial level. Both the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) spoke to their Turkish counterparts on the day following the coup attempt. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan) also travelled to Turkey shortly after the attempted coup to demonstrate our support for the democratically elected Turkish government. The Foreign Secretary also met the Turkish Foreign Minister on 7 September in London.