[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING 188TH ANNIVERSARY OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 24, 2009

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join with several of my 
colleagues this evening in celebrating the 188th anniversary of Greek 
Independence from the Ottoman Empire. Tonight is also a celebration of 
a society that represents, in a historical sense, the origins of what 
we call Western culture, and, in a contemporary sense, one of the 
staunchest defenders of Western society and values.
  In celebrating this anniversary, I am reminded of comments made 
nearly two centuries ago, by Massachusetts Congressman Daniel Webster. 
Congressman Webster spoke of the noble fight that would end 400 years 
of rule by the Ottoman Empire.
  Webster stated, `These [Greek] people, a people of intelligence, 
ingenuity, refinement, spirit, and enterprise, have been for centuries 
under the atrocious and unparalleled Tartarian barbarism that ever 
oppressed the human race.'
  The world has greatly benefited from Greek civilization and owes to 
them the values of democracy that we hold dear. In the years since 
Greek Independence, Americans and Greeks have grown ever closer, bound 
by ties of strategic and military alliance, common values of democracy, 
individual freedom, human rights and close personal friendship.
  Mr. Speaker, while we celebrate Greek Independence this evening, it's 
also important we recognize that Greeks continue to battle oppression 
from present day Turkey in Cyprus and that Greeks living in Turkey 
today continue to face discrimination.
  Just as Greece gained its independence 188 years ago this month, it 
is now important that our nation work with the United Nations and with 
the government of Cyprus to once again unify the island and protect the 
rights of Greeks everywhere.
  Over the past few years, I have become deeply concerned that our 
government's actions and policies towards Cyprus will make it more 
difficult to reunify a nation that has been broken apart for more than 
three decades. I was disappointed that the previous administration's 
U.S. Department of State opened its fly zone with the occupied part of 
Cyprus. I was also concerned that the State Department resumed trade 
with the occupied north through ports that were declared closed after 
the invasion in 1974. This action ignored Cyprus' domestic law, as well 
as international law that prohibits entering Cyprus through an illegal 
port in the north.
  Mr. Speaker, we now have a new Administration and a new Secretary of 
State. I am encouraged that we can take tangible steps to solve the 
problems in Cyprus through reunifying the Country. I will continue to 
encourage Secretary Clinton to take a historic look at the Cyprus 
problem over the past 34 years. It's important to look at this problem 
through the perspective of three decades of illegal actions on the 
Turkish side.
  As we celebrate Greek Independence and the cultural gifts that the 
Greek community has given to the world, I remain deeply dismayed by 
Turkey's continued discrimination against Greeks today in Turkey. I am 
glad that Secretary Clinton, on her recent visit to Turkey, discussed 
the issues of Ankara's refusal to recognize the Ecumenical status of 
the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. The United States cannot let Turkey 
continue these abuses of religious freedoms.
  The Department of State's 2008 Human Rights Report on Turkey lists a 
litany of abuses including systematic dismantling of property rights, 
limited education opportunities, and vandalism of religious properties 
of Greeks living in Turkey. This report shows that minorities are 
treated like second-class citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful that the United States can reverse its 
prior path. We must work with the international community to ensure 
that one day soon, like Greece, the island of Cyprus will be unified 
and free. We must work to make sure that Greeks do not face 
discrimination in Turkey.
  Tonight, I applaud the determination Greek's showed 188 years ago to 
overcome the Ottoman Empire, and restore democracy in the place of its 
birth.

                          ____________________