[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TURKISH INVASION OF CYPRUS--THE ANNAN PLAN: THE 
        TRUE CAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC ISOLATION OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in memory of a sad event. 
July 20, 2004 marks the 30-year anniversary of Turkey's invasion and 
occupation of Cyprus. I would like to join my colleagues in observing 
this terrible anniversary, and offer some observations on recent events 
on Cyprus.
  On May 1, 2004, Cyprus became a member of the European Union as a 
divided and occupied nation, its northern part being under illegal 
Turkish military occupation. The potential reunification of Cyprus is 
at a critical juncture. Accordingly, the United States and the U.N. 
must re-examine the key provisions of the Annan Plan in an effort to 
remedy the deficiencies that now plague the plan and obstruct the 
potential reunification of Cyprus.
  The economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots is not the fault of 
Greek Cypriots, as the Annan Plan wrongly assumes. Indeed, one of the 
most egregious aspects of the Annan Plan Report is the inclusion of 
terms such as ``pressure'' and ``isolation'' in reference to the 
Turkish Cypriots as if this were the fault of the Greek Cypriots. 
Nothing could be further from the truth.
  The Report fails to state the truth: The isolation of the Turkish 
Cypriots is caused by the presence of 35,000-40,000 Turkish troops and 
the establishment of the Green Line barbed wire fence across the face 
of Cyprus. Remove the Turkish troops now and the Green Line will 
disappear, and economic conditions in the north will improve 
dramatically.
  There is no embargo. There is the rule of law. The European Court 
held that trade goods from the occupied area could not be exported 
directly but had to go through the legitimate government of Cyprus and 
its Customs Service. Also, the relatively poor economic conditions in 
the occupied area have been caused in substantial part by the Turkish 
bureaucrats who were sent to the occupied area to run the economy.
  There is no justification for maintaining the Green Line's barbed 
wire fence and the artificial division of the island of Cyprus. When 
authorities opened parts of the Green Line in Nicosia, more than one 
million people crossed to visit the their former neighbors and 
countrymen. They have demonstrated beyond a doubt that the Greek and 
Turkish Cypriots can live and work together and that there is no 
security problem for Turkish Cypriots. There is a security problem for 
the Greek Cypriots: the 35,000-40,000 Turkish occupation troops. Those 
same troops, of course, are responsible for the economic isolation of 
the Turkish Cypriots, and thus all of these troops should be removed 
from the island.
  I hope that next year, when July 20 is upon us, there will be no 
reason to rise and decry a divided Cyprus. All parties should go back 
and rework the Annan Plan.

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