III 112th CONGRESS 2d Session S. CON. RES. 47 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 6, 2012 Mr. Menendez (for himself and Ms. Snowe) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress on the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over all of the territory of the island of Cyprus.

Whereas the Republic of Cyprus is an independent, sovereign nation-state; Whereas the Republic of Cyprus, as the only sovereign state on the island of Cyprus, is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, and other key international and multilateral organizations; Whereas Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that the Republic of Cyprus is strategically important; Whereas the Government of Cyprus is a close friend and partner of the United States Government in the volatile eastern Mediterranean region; Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 939 (1994) reaffirms that a solution to the Cypriot issue must be based on a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality, and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded, and comprising two politically equal communities as described in the relevant Security Council resolutions, in a bicommunal and bizonal federation, and that such a settlement must exclude union in whole or in part with any other country or any form of partition or secession; Whereas the Government of Turkey illegally occupies the northern area of Cyprus with an armed force of 43,000 troops; Whereas Article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949, states, The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.; Whereas, in 1954, the Government of Turkey ratified the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949; Whereas the Government of Turkey is attempting to colonize the part of Cyprus it occupies by sending hundreds of thousands of citizens of Turkey to live permanently in Cyprus; Whereas the demographic composition of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 was estimated to be 506,000 Greek-Cypriots and 118,000 Turkish-Cypriots; Whereas the current demographic composition of the Republic of Cyprus is estimated to be 672,000 Greek-Cypriots, 89,000 Turkish-Cypriots, and 200,000–500,000 citizens of Turkey transferred by the Government of Turkey to live permanently in Cyprus; Whereas the Turkish-Cypriot community's leadership rejected the Council of Europe’s request to conduct an island-wide census to accurately determine the current demographic composition of the island’s population; Whereas the Government of Turkey’s colonization plan was publicly exposed when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish-Cypriots protesting against the transfer of colonists from Turkey in the summer of 2011, “If you don’t want us to send people, you need to have more babies.”; Whereas the demographic composition of Cyprus is being dramatically and illegally altered by the influx of non-Cypriot colonists sent from Turkey; Whereas 40,000 Turkish-Cypriots protested against Turkish austerity measures during demonstrations in 2011, with hundreds shouting and holding signs reading, Ankara, get your hand off our shores.; Whereas, on March 4, 2012, Turkey’s European Union Minister, Egemen Bagis, called for annexing northern Cyprus to Turkey, an action that would be in direct violation of the United Nations Charter, United Nations Security Council resolutions on Cyprus, and United States Government policy toward Cyprus; Whereas, in recent years, the Republic of Cyprus, along with other countries in the eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, have discovered vast reserves of natural gas within their territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs); Whereas Cyprus and Israel recently signed an agreement defining the boundaries of their respective EEZs, and, on that basis, are proceeding with the exploration of natural gas reserves; Whereas a United States company is currently developing hydrocarbon deposits in the offshore EEZs of Cyprus and Israel; Whereas these developments are significant for the energy security and independence of Europe; Whereas the United States Government supports the sovereign rights of Cyprus and Israel to explore hydrocarbon deposits in their respective EEZs; Whereas the Government of Turkey is seeking to expand its illegal occupation to control portions of the EEZ of Cyprus and illegally seize and exploit the energy resources of Cyprus; Whereas the Government of Turkey has engaged in a variety of provocative and bellicose actions, including sending warships off the southern coast of Cyprus to escort a Turkish research vessel looking for hydrocarbon deposits, conducting air and naval military exercises south of Cyprus in the area of exploration, declaring invalid the agreement between Israel and Cyprus demarcating their maritime borders, and threatening the use of military action against Cyprus; Whereas the highest levels of the United States Government have privately urged the Government of Turkey not to follow through with its threats against Cyprus for exercising its sovereign right to explore its natural resources; and Whereas, on April 26, 2012, the Government of Turkey began illegally drilling for oil and natural gas on the island of Cyprus, within the sovereign territory of the Republic of Cyprus: Now, therefore, be it

That Congress— (1)respects and accepts the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over all of the territory of the island of Cyprus; (2)urges the Government of Turkey to respect, accept, and formally recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over all of the territory of the island of Cyprus, end its illegal military occupation of Cyprus, and accept and fully implement all United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Cyprus; (3)supports the Republic of Cyprus in its plans to explore and exploit energy reserves within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and praises the Governments of the Republic of Cyprus and Israel for working cooperatively to develop the energy holdings in the region; (4)urges the Government of Turkey to cease all activities and plans to further develop energy resources illegally within the territory and EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus; (5)opposes the Government of Turkey's threatening statements and naval movements designed to prevent the Republic of Cyprus from exploiting its energy resources; (6)expresses serious concern about the effort by the Government of Turkey to colonize the area of northern Cyprus by sending hundreds of thousands of non-Cypriot Turkish citizens to live in Cyprus; (7)considers the Government of Turkey in grave violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949, by transferring parts of its civilian population into occupied northern Cyprus; and (8)urges the President to call on the Government of Turkey to end its illegal colonization of Cyprus with non-Cypriot populations, terminate its occupation of northern Cyprus, and cease its illegal interference with the exploitation by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus of its energy resources.