If he will make a statement on the application by Turkey for membership of the European Union.

The Government strongly support Turkey's bid to join the EU. A stable, democratic and prosperous Turkey anchored in the EU would be a powerful demonstration that Islam, democracy and economic success are compatible. The Government therefore welcome the European Council's decision in December to open accession negotiations on 3 October this year.

Does my hon. Friend accept that for the cultured Turkish nation, entry to Europe has effectively been work in progress since the time of Ataturk, and that accession is as important to existing members as it is to Turkey itself? However, does he also agree that taking that forward means finding a solution to the Cyprus issue? Does he recognise that the Turkish northern Cypriots, who voted for the Annan plan, find themselves in isolation as regards trade, sporting links and direct flights, while the Greek Cypriots, who voted against the plan, have full membership of the European Union? Will he ensure that the Turkish northern Cypriots get a fair deal as matters move forward?

My hon. Friend is right to set the matter in a broader context, and I recommend to all hon. Members a visit to the Royal Academy to see the wonderful exhibition on the roots of Turkish culture. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the plight of the inhabitants of northern Cyprus, principally the Turkish Cypriot community there. I have urged the Government of the Republic of Cyprus—the only Government of that republic when it was involved with Turkey in the events of 1974—to accept that the time has come to allow all Cypriots to trade 360° around the compass. My hon. Friend is also right to say that normalisation and the resolution of the Cypriot question remains an important issue on the agenda. The Government hope that Ankara will take the necessary steps to find some solution as soon as possible.

Many of our EU partners, most notably the German Chancellor, believe that change in the voting weights under the proposed constitution is necessary to accommodate Turkish membership. Would the British Government support such a change?

Under the existing treaties and the new treaty, voting weights are for those who are already members of the European Union. Clearly, when and if Turkey joins, the exact number of Turkey's Members of the European Parliament, for example, would have to be discussed. Voting weights relate to the size of the population. None of us knows what our population size will be at the moment of Turkish accession. I hope that Britain's population will continue to grow, and I know that the hon. Gentleman, as the father of happy and handsome young children, is doing his best to help in the right direction.

Does my hon. Friend agree that the prospect of Turkey joining the EU has already proved an important catalyst in improving human rights in Turkey?

Very much so. Only five years ago, we would have been worried about the death penalty in Turkey, the number of Kurdish people in prison in Turkey, the journalists and writers in prison in Turkey, and the complete ban on the use of the Kurdish language. Many of those problems no longer exist. Rather than condemning, or demanding that Turkey adopt our levels of human rights from one day to the next, we should applaud the fact that the Turkish Parliament and Government have made more strides towards human rights in the past three or four years than at any time in the previous 300 years.

As part of the support for Turkey's joining the EU, what will the Minister do to ensure that Turkey understands that it must withdraw its troops from Cyprus as part of a settlement to restore the integrity of Cyprus? What will we do to monitor human rights in Turkey so that there are guarantees that faith minorities, ethnic minorities and other minorities have full rights at all times throughout Turkey?

On the first point, under the Annan plan, the number of troops would have been reduced to the number contained in the 1960 treaty—from some 25,000 or 30,000 today to fewer than 1,000. Unfortunately, the Greek Cypriot population voted massively to reject the Annan plan, which would have helped to solve that problem. The hon. Gentleman is right about the second point. I stress that we do raise the specific issue of different faiths in Turkey, especially different Christian faiths and the rights of their members to have their churches and seminaries. Under the EU's charter of fundamental rights, which is part of the new treaty, an absolute condition of EU membership is respect for everybody's right to manifest their religion. Again, that is a reason to support the new constitutional treaty. It is remarkable that the Turks want in to Europe, while the Tory party wants out.

Does my hon. Friend agree that Turkey's accession and the attitude of the Greek Cypriots towards it might have been helped if Turkey had agreed to withdraw some of the 35,000 troops before 2019, as the Annan plan envisaged? Does he accept that recognition of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus is an absolute prerequisite of Turkey's accession to the EU?

Again, my hon. Friend makes a fair point. I have gone on record as questioning whether the high number of Turkish troops stationed in northern Cyprus is justified by any legitimate concern for the security needs of the Turkish Cypriot people there. My hon. Friend is also right to say that, at the moment when Turkey joins the European Union, it must clearly have fully normal diplomatic relations with every other member of the Union. These points are well known; I have certainly made them both privately and on the record. It is important to allow all the inhabitants of Cyprus to trade, travel and operate freely, and I would encourage all sides to move forward in a more positive direction.