[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 27, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. Menendez):
  S. 695. A bill to amend the International Claims Settlement Act of 
1949 to allow for certain claims of nationals of the United States 
against Turkey, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, as you may know, Turkey invaded the 
northern area of the Republic of Cyprus in the summer of 1974. At that 
time, less than 20 percent of the private real property in this area 
was owned by Turkish Cypriots, with the rest owned by Greek Cypriots 
and foreigners. Turkey's invasion and subsequent occupation of northern 
Cyprus displaced people who are to this day prevented by the Turkish 
Armed Forces from returning to and repossessing their homes and 
properties.
  A large proportion of these properties were distributed to, and are 
currently being used by, the 120,000 Turkish settlers brought into the 
occupied area by Turkey. It is estimated that 7,000 to 10,000 U.S. 
nationals today claim an interest in such property.
  Adding urgency to the plight of Greek-Cypriots and Americans who lost 
property in the wake of the invasion is a recent property development 
boom in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus. As an ever-increasing 
number of disputed properties are transferred or developed, the 
rightful owners' prospects for recovering their property or being 
compensated worsen.
  In 1998, the European Court of Human Rights found that Turkey had 
unlawfully deprived Greek Cypriot refugees of the use of their 
properties in the north of the island. The Court ruled that the 
Government of Turkey was obliged to compensate the refugees for such 
deprivation, and to allow them to return home.
  It is to provide similar redress to the American victims of Turkey's 
invasion and occupation of Cyprus that my colleague Senator Menendez 
and I today introduce the ``American-Owned Property in Occupied Cyprus 
Claims Act''.
  This act would direct the U.S. Government's independent Foreign 
Claims Settlement Commission to receive, evaluate and determine awards 
with respect to the claims of U.S. citizens and businesses that lost 
property as a result of Turkey's invasion and continued occupation of 
northern Cyprus. To provide funds from which these awards would be 
paid, the act would urge the President to authorize the Secretary of 
State to negotiate an agreement for settlement of such claims with the 
Government of Turkey.
  The act would further grant U.S. Federal courts jurisdiction over 
suits by U.S. nationa1s against any private persons, other than Turkey, 
occupying or otherwise using the U.S. national's property in the 
Turkish-occupied portion of Cyprus. Lastly, the act would expressly 
waive Turkey's sovereign immunity against claims brought by U.S. 
nationals in U.S. courts relating to property occupied by the 
Government of Turkey and used by Turkey in connection with a commercial 
activity carried out in the United States.
  This bill represents an important step toward righting the 
internationally recognized wrong of the expropriation of property, 
including American property, in northern Cyprus in the wake of the 1974 
invasion by the Turkish Army. I strongly urge my colleagues to promptly 
consider and pass this critical piece of legislation.
                                 ______