[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ENOUGH SUFFERING IN CYPRUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KLINK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a subject that has 
to be very difficult for anyone to listen to, particularly if one 
happens to be a parent.
  On March 5, after nearly 24 very long years, the family of Andreas 
Kasapis of Detroit, Michigan, finally were assured that the remains 
that were found in a field on the island nation of Cyprus were that of 
their son, 17-year-old Andreas Kasapis. Andrew was an American citizen 
who, along with four other American citizens, was visiting Cyprus back 
in 1974 when the Turks invaded that island nation. As a result of that 
invasion, nearly 37 percent of the landmass of that island nation are 
under Turkish control nearly a quarter of a century later; and the 
families of 1,619 Cypriots and Cypriot Americans have been unaccounted 
for.
  We found out only a year or so ago in a very cursory comment from the 
Turkish leaders that, well, these people were all killed. Their 
families did not know that. For decades, their families did not know 
what happened, did not know if they are languishing in a prison camp, 
did not know if they had been killed, did not know if they were working 
in slavery, did not know what had happened to their families.
  Here was a 17-year-old boy that, if he were alive today, would be a 
41-year-old man; and only now, after spending millions of dollars in 
American taxpayer money to do highly sophisticated DNA tests on the 
bones that were found in a field, not in a grave in Cyprus, but lying 
in a field scattered about by plowing; and, in fact, it was very 
difficult, according to news reports, to find a bone that was suitable 
to perform the DNA test to find out that this was, indeed, the body of 
this 17-year-old American citizen.
  Americans in this country have worried for many years and, rightfully 
so, about what has occurred to missing Americans who served on the 
battlefields of Southeast Asia and other parts of this world. We should 
be very concerned about this. This was not a battlefield. This was a 
vacation spot. This was visiting the homeland of one's parents. 
Americans were just in a sovereign country enjoying themselves and went 
through this invasion of 1974, and they were caught up, and they were 
killed, brutally killed.
  We can only imagine how brutal the slaying had to be for these bones 
of the people who were killed in this one field just to be scattered 
and not to be dug up but to be found as farmers plow these fields and 
the bones come up to the surface. What a horrible, horrible picture for 
the family of Mr. Kasapis to have to deal with. But at least they have 
the peace of knowing what happened to their son. The other 1,618 
families do not know what has happened.
  Mr. Speaker, I would say that at this time we hope that the discovery 
and the identification of this one set of bones in this field nearly 
half a world away might lend those of us in government, those in the 
American community, those in the Turkish and the Greek communities, 
those in Cyprus, to work much harder to redouble their efforts to give 
answers to these families so that they can lay to rest, if not in a 
grave site at least in their minds and in their hearts, what happened 
to their loved ones nearly a quarter of a century ago.
  I would hope that the world community, as we focus on Saddam Hussein 
and weapons of mass destruction, can take a look at what Turkey has 
done, take a look at the green line that divides Nicosia, take a look 
at the line across Cyprus that divides more than one-third of this 
island which prevents Greek Cypriots from going into their homes, from 
worshipping in their churches, that again this sovereign nation can 
become one, not associated with the Greek government, not associated 
with the Turkish government, but as a sovereign nation where, left 
alone, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots would be able to live 
together, would be able to have free exchanges, free elections, would 
be able to establish their own kind of government.

  That is what the world has been waiting for. This island nation 
should not be divided, and the families of over 1,600 Cypriots and 
Cypriot Americans should not have to wait any longer.
  Mr. Speaker, I say that in this nation people like Phil Christopher, 
who is the President of the International Coordinating Committee of 
Justice for Cyprus and the Pancyprian Association; people like Andrew 
Manatos, the President of the National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes; 
and folks like Andy Athens, the President of the World Council of 
Hellenes Abroad; have kept this issue in the minds of the world and of 
Greeks and Greek Americans and, hopefully, also Turkish Americans and 
Turkish Cypriots. We hope that this is the beginning of putting this 
very painful part of history behind us, of healing the wounds and 
giving some peace to these families who have lost loved ones.

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