[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E954-E955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      ISSUES IN CYPRUS AND KOSOVO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 9, 2000

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, Harry Moskos is the highly-respected editor 
of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the major daily newspaper for East 
Tennessee. More importantly, everyone who gets to know Mr. Moskos soon 
realizes he is one of the finest men they have ever known.
  Over the years, he has developed a real expertise in foreign policy. 
He writes honest, sincere thoughtful editorials, without undue 
prejudices or special axes to grind. He is certainly not beholden to or 
controlled by any special interests.
  Within the last few days, he has written two very important pieces 
which I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other 
readers of the Record.
  The first is an insightful editorial on the history, current 
situation, and what needs to be done now to settle the thorny Cyprus 
issue. He points out that the Turkish invasion in 1974 resulted in 
200,000 Greek Cypriots being expelled from their homes and almost that 
many Turks and Turkish Crypriots living illegally on land and in homes 
that are not theirs.
  The second article is one that was distributed by the Scripps-Howard 
News-Service and reprinted in the Washington Times and other 
newspapers. It deals with the situation in Kosovo and the continuing 
cycle of violence, ethnic cleansing and retribution.
  I hope that those in the State Department and in the Congress who 
deal most directly with these issues will give serious consideration to 
these editorials by Harry Moskos.

            [From The Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 4, 2000]

  Two Sides Must Talk--Opportunities More Favorable Than In Past For 
                       Settlement of Cyprus Issue

       The eastern Mediterranean sovereign state of Cyprus has 
     been forcibly divided in two since the invasion of the island 
     republic in 1974 by Turkey. Now, 26 years later, the issue of 
     Cyprus remains one of the world's thorniest international 
     problems awaiting resolution.
       Reflecting the position of President Clinton, Secretary of 
     Defense William Cohen has stressed that the status quo in 
     Cyprus is not acceptable. Since the invasion, the Cypriot 
     government controls the south of the island while the north 
     is under Turkish occupation with more than 35,000 troops from 
     mainland Turkey stationed there in violation of numerous 
     United Nations Security Council resolutions. In fact, most of 
     the Turks now living in the occupied areas of the island are 
     not Turkish Cypriots but are Turkish settlers.
       About 200,000 Greek Cypriots, expelled from their homes in 
     the north, are still prevented from returning.
       Historically, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots lived in 
     comparative harmony until recent time. The Turkish invasion 
     further increased the tension--an invasion in which some 
     believe then-American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger 
     played a direct role by working behind the scenes with 
     Greece's then-military junta to successfully oust Archbishop 
     Makarios as Cypriot president. Turkey used the coup against 
     Makarios as a pretext to invade Cyprus.

[[Page E955]]

       Of the 780,000 people currently living in Cyprus, there are 
     about 65,000 to 80,000 Turkish Cypriots and about 100,000 
     Turks who have moved illegally to the island from Anatolia.
       A solution to the Cyprus problem has been elusive for more 
     than a quarter-of-century with President Clinton raising the 
     Cyprus issue in his State of the Union Address this year, 
     terming it one of his highest priorities. It was the first 
     time in 20 years that a president had mentioned the Cyprus 
     question in that annual speech.
       Clinton, who has actively immersed himself in other 
     international issues including Ireland and the Middle East, 
     still has seven months remaining in office to push for a 
     Cyprus settlement.
       There are hopeful signs that the situation is improving.
       Devastating earthquakes that hit both Greece and Turkey 
     last year resulted in both countries coming to the aid of 
     victims. In Cyprus itself, Turkish and Greek Cypriots worked 
     together to solve common issues, such as in the divided city 
     of Nicosia when officials resolved sewage problems and other 
     municipal issues. And hundreds of Turkish Cypriots 
     volunteered to have their blood tested to see if they could 
     provide a bone marrow transplant for a six-year-old Greek 
     Cypriot boy fighting for his life.
       Another round of U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at reunifying 
     the island will get underway July 5 in Geneva.
       U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan hopes the pace of the 
     talks will accelerate but stresses it is difficult to 
     anticipate what progress will be made. He urges both parties 
     to discuss key issues.
       The European Union and the United States are pushing for a 
     bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, the framework for a 
     solution that has repeatedly been endorsed by the U.N. 
     Security Council.
       Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides fully supports the 
     actions of the international community for a solution along 
     the U.N. guidelines. Turkey, however, has remained 
     intransigent in seeking an island with two separate states, 
     which is a wholly unacceptable solution.
       While Clerides is recognized internationally as the head of 
     Cyprus, only Turkey has recognized the self-proclaimed 
     ``Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus'' in the occupied area 
     of the island headed by Rauf Denktash, who to date has 
     refused to budge from his hard line.
       Compromise is needed. The U.N. plan is the framework to 
     follow since it is a carefully constructed outline that both 
     communities previously accepted, but the Turkish side keeps 
     changing its position.
       An eventual solution needs to include a complete 
     demilitarization of the island, with the Turkish troops 
     leaving and the illegal settlers returning to where they came 
     from.
       Reunification also will allow both communities to enjoy the 
     benefits of EU membership since Cyprus is expected to join 
     the organization within a few years.
       Lellos Demetriades, the Greek Cypriot mayor of Nicosia, 
     points out that ``you can't live next to each other and not 
     talk.''
       This is what is needed most at this time--constructive and 
     substantive talks that will lead to a settlement of the 
     Cyprus issue. As Defense Secretary Cohen points out, a 
     resolution is needed sooner rather than later. Active 
     leadership from the United States is needed now more than 
     ever to solve this issue.
                                 ______
                                 

               [From the Washington Times, June 6, 2000]

                        Kosovo's Ongoing Agonies

                             (HARRY MOSKOS)

       Nato Secretary-General Lord Robertson took a walking tour 
     this week to see for himself what it is like in Pristina 
     after the allied war in Kosovo.
       Where he didn't walk illustrates that nearly one year after 
     NATO's 78-day bombing of the province that all is not well--
     or safe.
       Lord Robertson's stroll took him down a central shopping 
     street where he was met with cheers from ethnic Albanians. He 
     also toured parts of Kosovska but bypassed the northern, 
     predominantly Serbian, part of the city.
       Tensions between Serbians and Albanians remain high. Lord 
     Robertson stressed that the violence has to be reduced or 
     there is danger that ethnic Albanians could lose the sympathy 
     of the international community.
       His comments came a few days after an attacker opened fire 
     on a group of Serbs gathered in a store in Cernica, killing a 
     4-year-old boy, his 60-year-old grandfather and another man. 
     Cernica, 28 miles southeast of Pristina, is patrolled by U.S. 
     peacekeepers who were only 200 yards away when the gunman, an 
     ethnic Albanian, opened fire and escaped.
       In another unsolved case, a 25-year-old Serbian U.N. 
     translator was found stabbed to death. The translator was 
     murdered after a newspaper closely tied to Kosovo Albanian 
     leader Hashim Thaci accused the translator of membership in a 
     Serbian paramilitary unit--a rash accusation made without any 
     formal charge or much less even an investigation.
       As the Canonical Conference of Orthodox Christian Bishops 
     in America rightly observed recently, the international 
     community must not allow the cycle of violence, ethnic 
     cleansing and retribution to continue in Kosovo.
       NATO's troubles are not limited to continuing atrocities in 
     Kosovo.
       Three teachers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point 
     have raised the issue of whether NATO violated the rules of 
     land warfare by using tactics that protected combatants by 
     placing civilian bystanders at greater risk, resulting in a 
     corrosion of the professional military ethic. And another 
     military study has shown that NATO had overstated--roughly by 
     a factor of 10--the effectiveness of its attacks against 
     Serbian forces during last year's conflict.
       The 78-day bombing campaign did accomplish its goal to end 
     Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's dictatorial grip on 
     Kosovo, but this has not brought the promise of better times.
       NATO entered this fray to help the ethnic Albanians, but 
     unless they are now kept from taking the law into their own 
     hands, the aftermath of Kosovo will only see more 4-year-old 
     boys dying at the hands of assassins.

     

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