Overview

• Afzal Khan stepped down as the UK’s trade envoy to Turkey on August 15 after widespread criticism of his Northern Cyprus trip.
• He travelled without official clearance via Tymbou/Ercan airport to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
• In Northern Cyprus, Khan met Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, posed for photographs at his official residence and accepted an honorary doctorate.
• The Republic of Cyprus condemned the visit as “absolutely condemnable and unacceptable,” and the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK welcomed his departure.
• Labour backbenchers and opposition figures pressed Prime Minister Keir Starmer for action, even as the Foreign Office maintains no change to Britain’s non-recognition policy.