[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10137-S10139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS
Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, I believe that Members of the Senate and
House of Representatives will be pleased that two of our distinguished
former colleagues were this month honored by President of the Republic
of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos.
In ceremonies on July 3 at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, the
capital of Cyprus, President Papadopoulos bestowed on Senator Sarbanes
and Congressman Brademas the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III.
John Brademas, who served for 22 years as Representative in Congress
from the District centered in South Bend, IN, was author or coauthor of
much of the legislation enacted during those years in support of
schools, colleges, and universities; libraries and museums; the arts
and the humanities. In his last 4 years, he was Majority Whip of the
House of Representatives.
Paul Sarbanes served in the House of Representatives for 6 years and
the Senate for 30 years. As chair of the Senate Committee on Banking
and Urban Affairs, he was principal author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002, to ensure integrity in corporate governance.
Both John Brademas and Paul Sarbanes were Rhodes scholars and so
studied at Oxford University, from which both earned degrees. John
Brademas also graduated from Harvard University and Paul Sarbanes from
Princeton University and the Harvard Law School.
John Brademas was the first native-born American of Greek descent
elected to Congress, House or Senate; Paul Sarbanes was the first
Greek-American elected to the Senate. I note that his son, John
Sarbanes, was last November in Maryland elected to Paul's former seat
in the House of Representatives.
While in Nicosia, both former Senator Sarbanes and former Congressman
Brademas also visited the HSPH-Cyprus International Initiative for the
[[Page S10138]]
Environment and Public Health, a program associated with the Harvard
School of Public Health.
At this point in the Record, I ask unanimous consent that the remarks
of President Papadopoulos of the Republic of Cyprus at the Presidential
Palace, Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 3, 2007, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Remarks of President Tassos Papadopoulos of the Republic of Cyprus
Senator Sarbanes; Congressman Brademas; Your Eminence,
Archbishop Chrysostomos; Your Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios;
Ambassador Schlicher; distinguished friends and guests,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you tonight at the
Presidential Palace in order to pay tribute to two long-
standing and unwavering supporters of the people of the whole
of Cyprus, Senator Paul Sarbanes and Congressman John
Brademas.
I have had the privilege of knowing both these
distinguished gentlemen for many years and I consider them to
be among the most ardent, tireless and unflinching supporters
for the just cause of Cyprus in the United States.
Senator Sarbanes and Congressman Brademas ably represented
the people in their respective constituencies for decades, as
well as successfully advancing the aspirations and objectives
of the Hellenic American Community. I can think of no other
two people who have done more for the nurturing of closer
bonds between the people of Cyprus and the United States of
America. I have always held the view and have declared on
several public occasions that the first loyalty of Americans
of Greek origin is to their host country, the United States
of America. When, however, the best interests of the United
States and the rules of international law and practice are
not incompatible with the special interests of Greece and of
Cyprus, we hope and expect that they will lean towards and
publicly remember their ethnic roots. Both gentlemen have
admirably honoured these principles.
For all these reasons, the Government of the Republic of
Cyprus has decided to pay tribute to their life-long
commitment to the Rule of Law, ``justice for Cyprus'', for
the condemnation of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, for the
end of the occupation of Cyprus soil by Turkish troops, for
the end of the massive violations of human rights in Cyprus
by Turkey and for promoting a just, functional and lasting
solution to the Cyprus issue.
JOHN BRADEMAS
John Brademas was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, of Greek
parentage. He was elected to the United States Congress in
1958 as a Representative of Indiana's Third District, thus
becoming the first U.S.-born Greek-American to be elected to
the United States Congress and paving the way for, among
others, Paul Sarbanes, Paul Tsongas and Mike Bilirakis.
He represented his district for twenty-two years (1959-
1981), the last four as Majority Whip for the Democratic
Party. Upon leaving Congress, Dr. Brademas served as
President of New York University from 1981 to 1992 and has
since been President Emeritus. He has been integral in
establishing a close-knit relationship between Cyprus and New
York University, examples of which are the current
excavations in Yeronisos under Professor Joan Connelly and
the Cyprus Global Professorship on History and Theory of
Justice, which I will have the honour of inaugurating in
September.
PAUL SARBANES
Paul Sarbanes was born in Salisbury, Maryland, of Greek
parents. After serving in the Maryland House of Delegates for
four years, he was elected to the United States Congress in
1970 and served in the House of Representatives for six
years.
In 1976 he was elected to the United States Senate for the
State of Maryland and was re-elected four more times, serving
for a total of thirty years, before retiring this January. As
Chair of the Senate Banking and Urban Affairs Committee in
2001-02, he was the main architect of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley
Act, which effectuated one of the most significant changes to
United States Securities laws in over 70 years.
As impressive as their domestic record, it is the steadfast
support for the just cause of Cyprus of Senator Sarbanes and
Congressman Brademas which brings us here today.
Immediately after the Turkish invasion of 1974, John
Brademas and Paul Sarbanes, with the help of the late
Congressman Benjamin Rosenthal of New York and Senator Thomas
Eagleton of Missouri, who recently passed away, led the
successful effort of enforcing an arms embargo against
Turkey. As Dr. Brademas put it himself, Paul Sarbanes and he
were not the Greek lobby, but the ``rule of law lobby''.
This last notion forms the cornerstone of their support
towards Cyprus. Both men have for many years advocated for a
just solution to the Cyprus problem, not only because it is a
Hellenic issue, but because it is essentially a rule of law
and human rights issue, under United States law. Only a
solution based on the relevant Security Council Resolutions
and in accordance with the principles of international law,
as well as the Acquis Communautaire of the European Union,
can secure a permanent, viable and stable solution, which
will benefit all Cypriots. Such a solution, which is not
tailor-made for the satisfaction of outside parties, will
enhance the stability of the Eastern Mediterranean and is
conducive to the interests of the United States.
THE RULE OF LAW
John Brademas and Paul Sarbanes consistently advanced the
cause of Cyprus throughout their political careers. In so
doing, they have been the embodiment of values cherished by
America, such as the rule of law, respect for human rights
and democratic governance, which are, alas, all too often
swept aside for reasons of political expedience.
Tonight's honourees, have been exceptional leaders of the
Greek-American Community. I would be remiss if I did not
dedicate a few words towards the Hellenic diaspora in the
United States. The President of the Cyprus Federation of
America, Mr. Peter Papanicolaou, is amongst us today, so I
take this opportunity to convey through him the sincere
appreciation of the Cypriot people for the Community's
tireless support and to urge you, dear Peter, to continue
with your efforts until Cyprus is free and freely reunified,
in its territory, society, institutions and economy.
I would also like to welcome again to Cyprus the spiritual
leader of the community, His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios,
and to thank him for his efforts to stop the pillage and
destruction of Cyprus' religious and cultural heritage in the
occupied area.
Before I conclude my remarks, I wish to once again express
the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of the Government
and people of Cyprus to Paul Sarbanes and John Brademas for
their unwavering commitment, all these years, and to wish
them the best of luck for all their future endeavors.
Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, at this point in the Record, I ask
unanimous consent that the remarks of former Congressman
Brademas on this occasion be printed in the Record. Senator
Sarbanes responded extemporaneously on this occasion.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Remarks of Dr. John Brademas President Emeritus, New York University
and Former Member, Indiana, 1959-1981, United States House of
Representatives
President Papadopoulos; Your Eminence, Archbishop
Chrysostomos; Your Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios; Ambassador
Schlicher; distinguished guests and friends all, I want to
express to you, Mr. President, my deepest appreciation for
the high honor that you do my colleague and valued friend,
Senator Paul Sarbanes, and me with the award of the Grand
Cross of the Order of Makarios III.
I want to recognize as well Dr. Phillip Mitsis, Alexander
S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization and
Professor of Classics at New York University, and his wife,
Sophia Kalantzakos, a Member of the Parliament of Greece.
Let me here also thank the distinguished Ambassador of the
United States to the Republic of Cyprus, His Excellency,
Ronald L. Schlicher, for having this week so graciously
received Senator and Mrs. Sarbanes, my wife and me.
It was nearly one year ago, on September 8, 2006, that I
had the privilege of welcoming to New York University the
distinguished President of the Republic of Cyprus, His
Excellency, Tassos Papadopoulos, and now I am pleased to be
in the country he so faithfully serves as leader.
I hope, Mr. President, and ladies and gentlemen, you will
allow me a few words to say why this honor is so meaningful
to me.
As most of you know, I am the first native-born American of
Greek origin elected to the Congress of the United States--my
late father was born in Kalamata.
I was for 22 years a Member of the House of
Representatives, from the State of Indiana.
In Congress, I was a member of the committee with
responsibility for education legislation and so helped write
all the laws enacted during those two decades and two years
to support schools, colleges and universities; libraries and
museums; the arts and the humanities. And in my last four
years, I served as the Majority Whip of the House of
Representatives, part of the Leadership of the Democratic
Party.
In 1981 I became president of New York University or, as we
call it, NYU, the largest private university in my country. I
am now president emeritus.
SENATOR PAUL SARBANES
I am so pleased that my distinguished friend, United States
Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, is here with his lovely
wife, Christine, and am, of course, delighted that my
brilliant and beautiful physician wife, Mary Ellen, has
joined me for this ceremony.
And I want to thank my dear cousin, Anna Bredima-
Savopoulou, Counsel for the Union of Greek Shipowners, for
having flown here from Athens to be on hand for this
ceremony. I am very proud of Anna's accomplishments.
Paul Sarbanes, as you know, for many years a leading member
of the United States Senate and, indeed, the first Greek-
American elected to the Senate, and a valued ally in the
struggle for justice for Cyprus, is someone I have often
described as ``a modern Pericles''.
I am delighted that Paul's son, John Sarbanes, was last
November elected to represent Paul's former constituency in
the
[[Page S10139]]
House of Representatives even as I'm pleased to say that only
a few weeks ago, Michael Sarbanes, another son of Paul and
Christine, has announced his candidacy for the presidency of
the City Council of Baltimore. Obviously, politics runs in
the Sarbanes family!
I'm glad, too, to welcome some other friends from my days
in Washington, including the distinguished former Ambassador
of Cyprus to the United States, Andreas Jacovides, and his
wife, Pamela, as well as two great champions of the Hellenic
cause in my country and, indeed, the world, Andrew Athens and
Andrew Manatos.
I'm pleased also that two vigorous voices of the Cypriot
community in the United States are here today, Phillip
Christopher and Panicos Papanicolaou.
I'm glad as well to greet a colleague from New York
University, an outstanding scholar, Professor Joan Breton
Connelly, leader of the excavation of Yeronisos Island and of
an international team there. Professor Connelly has just
published a magnificent book, Portrait of a Priestess: Women
and Ritual in Ancient Greece, which has won splendid reviews
in the New York Times and New York Review of Books.
And I must salute that eminent archaeologist, Professor
Vassos Karageorghis, director of the Anastasios G. Leventis
Foundation.
LINKS WITH CYPRUS
I have still other links with Cyprus.
I serve on the international advisory counsel of The Pharos
Trust, that splendid chamber of cultural activity in Cyprus,
led by Garo Keheyan. And as a graduate of Harvard University,
I'm pleased also to serve on the Executive Council of the
Cyprus International Initiative for the Environment and
Public Health--Harvard School of Public Health. And as I'm
recalling connections, I'm glad again to see a respected
Cypriot businessman, George Paraskevaides, and his wife,
Thelma.
Tonight I recall that it was nearly ten years ago in June
of 1998, that I had the privilege of visiting the University
of Cyprus and being received by its distinguished Rector,
Professor Dr. Miltiades Chacholiades, and of addressing
members of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry and
Cyprus American Business Association.
Of course, particularly meaningful, all the more so in
light of the decoration Paul Sarbanes and I are today
receiving, is the trip Paul and I made in August 1977 when we
came here for the funeral of the great leader of the Cypriot
people, His Eminence, Archbishop Makarios.
The connection, however, with Cyprus of which some of you
may be most aware is the one of which I shall say a few words
now.
In 1967, when a group of Greek colonels overthrew young
King Constantine of Greece, I, the only Greek-American in
Congress, sharply attacked the coup. I refused to visit
Greece or go to the Greek Embassy in Washington and I
publicly opposed U.S. military aid to Greece, arguing that as
Greece was a member of NATO, which championed freedom,
democracy and the rule of law, none of which values the Greek
military junta supported, the United States should not be
sending them arms.
TURKISH INVASION OF CYPRUS
In July 1974, the junta attempted to overthrow Archbishop
Makarios, President of Cyprus, an action that brought the
downfall of the colonels but also triggered two invasions of
Cyprus by Turkish armed forces, forces equipped with weapons
supplied by the United States, a legal ``No-No''.
So I led a group of several Members of the House of
Representatives, including then Representative Sarbanes, to
call on the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and we told
him that as American law mandated an immediate halt to
further shipment of arms to any country using American
weapons for other than defensive purposes, he should enforce
the law and impose an embargo on further U.S. arms to Turkey.
As this was the same week that Richard Nixon resigned the
presidency, I reminded Secretary Kissinger that the reason
Mr. Nixon was on his way in exile to California was that he
had not respected the laws of the land or the Constitution of
the United States.
``You should do so,'' I told Kissinger.
He and the new President, Gerald R. Ford, refused to
enforce the law, and, therefore, we in Congress did.
I remind you that the United States has a separation-of-
powers constitutional system, not a parliamentary system! So
in 1974, Congress voted an embargo on sending further
American weapons to Turkey. As I have from time to time heard
criticisms, in respect of the role of ``the Greek lobby'' in
Congress, I observe that when we voted the embargo on further
U.S. arms to Turkey, there were only five of us of Greek
origin in Congress, all in the House of Representatives: John
Brademas, Paul Sarbanes, Peter Kyros, Gus Yatron--all
Democrats, all of whom supported the embargo--and one
Republican, Skip Bafalis, who voted against it. There were at
that time no Americans of Greek descent in the Senate.
Accordingly, this so-called ``Greek lobby'' was effective
because of the validity of our arguments and, if I may say
so, of our work to generate support for our position not only
among Greek-Americans across the country but among other
Americans who shared our views.
``THE RULE OF LAW LOBBY''
We were ``The Rule of Law Lobby''!
I shall not here take time to review with you my subsequent
experience when President Jimmy Carter, to my distress, as I
generally supported his Administration, called on Congress to
support lifting the embargo on Turkey despite the fact that
there had been no action to resolve the Cyprus question.
Here I must pay tribute to my friend of many years, Costa
Carras, founder in London of ``Friends of Cyprus'' who has
continued to call attention to the issue that concerns us
all--justice for Cyprus. In my view, finding a just
resolution for Cyprus is an indispensable requirement as the
European Union considers the application for membership of
Turkey even as I believe there are other commitments Turkey
must make if it wishes to join the EU.
First, of course, is that Turkey comply with the so-called
Copenhagen criteria, which include respect for minorities,
respect for human rights, respect for decent treatment of
peoples.
Certainly it is not rational that a European Union member-
state militarily occupy another EU member-state, and Cyprus
is now a member of the European Union.
As today there are over 40,000 Turkish armed forces in
Cyprus, their continued presence, if Turkey were in the
European Union, would be an offense to common sense.
I add that there are an estimated 160,000 Turkish settlers
in northern Cyprus while there are only 100,000 Turkish
Cypriots!
A second point: It is also unreasonable for one member of
the European Union to refuse to give diplomatic recognition
to the existence of another member, and as we all know,
Turkey has refused to recognize the Republic of Cyprus.
So these then are two of the conditions--removal of Turkish
troops and diplomatic recognition of Cyprus--that it seems to
me must be met by the Government of Turkey as it seeks to
join the European Union and take advantage of the benefits of
such membership.
If a just settlement on Cyprus is one issue related to
Turkey's desire to join the European Union, there is another
of which I shall say a word.
ATTACKS ON ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
Three years ago, His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios,
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, testified on
Capitol Hill before the United States Helsinki Commission.
His Eminence and religious leaders of other traditions voiced
their concern about the systematic efforts on the part of
Turkey to undermine the Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical
Patriarchate.
I cite, by way of example, the expropriation by Turkish
authorities of properties of Christian Orthodox communities,
the refusal by the Turkish Government to accord recognition
as a legal entity to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the
shutdown of the Halki School of Theology and other attacks on
religious minorities--Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox,
Roman Catholics, Jews.
For an impressive analysis of Turkish persecution of
religious minorities, I refer you to the report issued only
in May of this year by the United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom.
And I could add the powerful statement on religious freedom
made by Congressman Tom Lantos of California, chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of
Representatives, also last May. Chairman Lantos sent a letter
to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan urging him to take several
steps to liberalize Turkey's policies toward the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, once and for all.
Forty-two of Chairman Lantos' Committee colleagues,
Democrats and Republicans, signed the letter urging the
Turkish Government to stop trying to bully the Ecumenical
Patriarchate into extinction.
You here better than I can speak of the desecration of
Greek Orthodox churches in Turkish-occupied Cyprus.
Let me conclude. As one who in the year 2001, in an address
at the Bosphorous University in Turkey, said that I wanted to
see a democratic Turkey, Turkey part of Europe and Turkey in
the European Union, provided that country comply with the
Copenhagen criteria, including respect for human rights, I
must tell you that in 1974, when Paul Sarbanes, our
colleagues and I in Congress voted an embargo on further
American arms to Turkey, we made clear that for us this
decision was a matter of respecting the rule of law--a point
I have made earlier.
Paul Sarbanes and I, to repeat, were leaders of ``The Rule
of Law Lobby''!
Paul Sarbanes and I and many of our former colleagues in
Congress--and I regret that I cannot include the present
President of the United States in this regard--will continue
to call on respect for the laws of our own country even as we
will continue to urge justice for the brave people of Cyprus.
President Papadopoulos, thank you again for the great honor
that you do Senator Sarbanes and me.
____________________