Sir Keir Starmer has been urged by Labour MPs to sack his trade envoy to Turkey after he made an unauthorised visit to Northern Cyprus.
Afzal Khan, 67, visited the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus last week, despite the UK not recognising the statelet following the illegal annexation of the territory in 1974.
However, Labour MPs have also now broken ranks to put pressure on the Prime Minister to sack Mr Khan.
Labour MPs were said to have raised the matter with Ministers to channel the fury of Greek Cypriots over the trip, MailOnline has revealed.
Despite growing fury being directed at No10 over the diplomatic row, the trip is said to have been a “personal” visit.
Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, the honorary president of the all-party parliamentary group for Cyprus, said Sir Keir should sack Mr Khan over the unauthorised trip.
Afzal Khan, Labour MP and the United Kingdom’s Trade Envoy to Türkiye, pictured with Ersin Tatar, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
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“His position as trade envoy is untenable,” Sir Roger said.
Shadow Foreign Minister Wendy Morton also claimed: “This visit risks undermining the UK’s credibility as a guarantor power and as an impartial interlocutor in settlement negotiations.
“It also sends a worrying signal to UK citizens of Cypriot heritage, many of whom were displaced from the very areas that Mr Khan visited.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel, who was forced to quit as Theresa May’s International Development Secretary after holding unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials, also called on Mr Khan to resign, adding that the Prime Minister “must restate Britain’s long-standing position on Cyprus”.
Meanwhile, Mr Tatar accused his Greek Cypriot critics of making “intolerant statements and excessive attacks”, admitting that the visit was undertaken “at my invitation”.
The 64-year-old, who is a close ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Mr Khan that he wanted to pursue a “two-state solution” despite no international recognition of the seized territory.
Mr Khan replied that his Cypriot friends in his Manchester Rusholme constituency urged him to visit the Mediterranean island, adding: “That is why I am happy to be here.”
Turkish troops invaded Cyprus in the summer of 1974, resulting in the displacement of around 200,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots.
A man walks past graves of Greek and Cypriot soldiers, who were killed during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, at the Tymvos Macedonitissas military cemetery in Nicosia
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Erdogan celebrated the 50th anniversary of the annexation of Northern Cyprus last year, describing the unrecognised territory as the “apple of our eye”.
He said that the invasion “put an end to the 11-year darkness enveloping” the Turkish Cypriots, who constituted 18 per cent of the island’s population in 1974.
He said: “The Cyprus peace operation saved Turkish Cypriots from cruelty and brought them to freedom.”
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis shared a blood-stained map of the island to mark “the black anniversary”, adding: “Half a century since the national tragedy of Cyprus.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomes President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, to Downing Street
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Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides separately said: “Our mission is liberation, reunification and solving the Cyprus problem.
“If we really want to send a message on this tragic anniversary … it is to do anything possible to reunite Cyprus.”
Turkey’s invasion, dubbed Operation Attila, also resulted in the deaths of an estimated 5,000 people, with an additional 1,619 being reported missing.
Responding to Mr Khan’s visit, a Government spokesman confirmed the trip was “undertaken in a personal capacity” and stressed that there was no change to the UK’s long-standing position on the seized territory.
