[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 110 (Tuesday, July 21, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             35TH YEAR OF INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 21, 2009

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, today I rise, like so many have done 
before me for 35 years now, and lament the unjust division of the 
Republic of Cyprus.
  For more than 60 years, the United States has extended the hand of 
friendship to Turkey, offering her material support, offering her 
military protection and most importantly, engaging our Turkish friend 
and ally with the respect, admiration, and dignity that emanate from 
our great Nation's democratic values.
  Just a few months ago, President Obama paid a historic visit to 
Turkey where he called upon the European Union to embrace Turkey's 
application to join that body of peace loving, democratic nations, and 
as well, he called for a just and lasting settlement that reunifies 
Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation.
  Last year, upon this remembrance, I commended the noble efforts 
exerted by the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to reunify 
their island republic. Today, 1 year later, I again praise President 
Dimitrios Christofias and Turkish Cypriot Leader Mehmet Ali Talat for 
their commitment to peace and unity.
  So why then, with Cypriot leadership committed to reunification, 
Turkey's NATO membership since 1952, United Nations' diplomatic 
initiatives and the appointment of numerous special American, British 
and E.U. envoys, does Cyprus remain divided and occupied for 35 years?
  For three and a half decades, the international community has 
unequivocally called for the removal of the 45,000 Turkish troops 
garrisoned in the occupied north, so that the people of Cyprus may be 
relieved of the humanitarian hardship and injustice brought on by 
Turkey's hostile occupation.
  In 1975, this Chamber imposed sanctions upon Turkey and refused to 
allow sales or aid of American military equipment to Turkey, because of 
its unlawful invasion and occupation of Cyprus. That embargo was lifted 
by the exigencies of the Cold War, because the Turkish military 
retaliated against the United States by denying use of strategic 
military assets located in Turkey.
  From the outset of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus to this day, the 
United Nations has repeatedly called for the removal of Turkish 
occupation forces and for the respect of the sovereignty, independence 
and territorial integrity of Cyprus.
  Following high level U.N. brokered talks in 1979, Turkey agreed as a 
confidence building measure to withdraw and handover the uninhabited 
city of Famagusta to its rightful inhabitants. In this regard, U.N. 
Security Council Resolution 550/1984 calls for the transfer of the 
occupied, but uninhabited, city of Famagusta to the United Nations for 
the orderly resettlement of the city by its rightful inhabitants. To 
this day, Turkey has reneged on its pledge to comply with the 
agreements achieved during the high level talks and has completely 
disregarded the U.N. resolutions on Famagusta.
  As recently as May 2009, the U.N. Secretary General placed the blame 
for the failure to return Famagusta to its rightful inhabitants 
squarely upon the Government of Turkey. This Chamber has also enacted 
section 620C(a)(5) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2373 (a)(5)) in support of the United Nations Secretary General's 
efforts to resettle the occupied, but uninhabited, city of Famagusta by 
its rightful inhabitants. Turkey, our NATO ally and beneficiary of 
significant American support, has ignored America's calls for 
compliance with the return of Famagusta, just as it has ignored the 
U.N.'s.
  Today, Senator Cardin and Congressman Hastings of the Helsinki 
Commission held a briefing on the destruction of the history, heritage 
and culture in the occupied north of Cyprus. As that briefing pointed 
out, despite clear international commitments on the importance of 
preserving religious and cultural heritage, hundreds of churches, 
chapels and monasteries in the northern part of Cyprus remain in peril. 
Thousands of icons, manuscripts, frescos, and mosaics have been looted 
from sites in northern Cyprus--many ending up on international auction 
blocks. The United States, the E.U. and the United Nations have all 
called on Turkey to honor its international obligations and cease and 
desist from this further hostility to the people of Cyprus. This begs 
the question, how can Turkey seek to join the European Union, all the 
while it is destroying the very existence of European history and 
culture in the north of Cyprus.
  The European Union has also called on Turkey to honor its agreement 
to open its ports and airspace to Republic of Cyprus flagged vessels. 
Rather than comply with its commitments, Turkey demands that the E.U. 
engage in international economic activity with the unlawfully occupied 
north of the island republic. It is incredible that Turkey would refuse 
to open its ports and airspace and extend legal recognition to a member 
state of the European Union all the while it seeks to become a full 
fledged member of that Union.
  The United States rightly places great importance in strategically 
mooring Turkey to the E.U. and America, but I am greatly concerned that 
Turkey does not share our vision or commitment to the liberal 
democratic processes that works to ensure global peace and stability. 
There are no greater advocates for Turkey's acceptance into the 
European Union, than Greece, Cyprus and the United States. Despite the 
fact that Turkey has bullied and beaten the small island Republic of 
Cyprus, Cyprus has shown great humanity by demanding of its fellow E.U. 
members that Turkey should be afforded the right to join the E.U.
  The Republic of Cyprus has gone the extra mile to keep its Turkish 
speaking citizens engaged in its democratic and economic successes, it 
has gone the extra mile to engage Turkey and normalize relations, and 
it has gone the extra mile by becoming an advocate of Turkey's entry 
into the E.U. Unfortunately, Turkey has not responded in kind. To this 
very day, Turkey violates the territorial integrity of Cypriot seas and 
air space. It acts to limit the economic activities of the tiny 
republic and it subjects it to the menacing threat of a massively armed 
contingent of 45,000 soldiers.
  The division of Cyprus is a matter of invasion and occupation, and 
not as Turkey claims, a matter of inter-communal conflict. On this very 
point, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has held time and time 
again that Turkey exercises ``effective overall control of northern 
Cyprus through its military presence there . . .'' and stresses the 
point ``that Turkey's responsibility under the [European] Convention 
could not be confined to the acts of its own soldiers and officials 
operating in northern Cyprus, but was also engaged by virtue of the 
acts of the local administration . . ., which survived by virtue of 
Turkish military and other support.'' There can be no doubt from the 
rulings of the ECHR that the division of the Republic of Cyprus 
continues because of the Turkish military occupation.
  The Cyprus problem pits American allies against one another and 
impedes the orderly progress of NATO and the E.U. in a strategically 
vital part of the world. The time has come for us to ask ourselves, is 
the Government of Turkey part of the solution or is it the very heart 
of the problem. How Turkey resolves the division of Cyprus will work to 
define how Turkey will be engaged by Europe. Should Turkey continue to 
occupy Cyprus as a post-imperial power with no regard for its prior 
commitments to international agreements and with no sense of obligation 
to the very European heritage, history and culture that it must uphold 
as an aspirant member of the E.U., Turkey will by its own hand 
foreclose its chances of joining the European Union.
  Madam Speaker, Turkey is gambling with more than even the democratic 
liberties of the people of Cyprus. I fear that should Turkey fail to 
honor democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Turkey will drift 
away from the United States and Europe and chart a course that will be 
openly adverse to the interest of NATO, America and the E.U. It is high 
time that we engage our ally, while we still can, and ensure a 
democratic resolution to the division of Cyprus.