[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TURKISH INVASION OF CYPRUS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 20, 2010

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, on July 20, 1974, a heavily armed 
Turkish invasion force landed on the beaches of its sovereign, 
independent neighbor--Cyprus.
  While ostensibly on a peaceful mission to restore order, the Turkish 
military carried out a brutal campaign against Greek Cypriots, called 
``Operation Atilla''.
  Over five thousand Greek Cypriots were estimated to have been killed; 
an additional sixteen hundred Greek Cypriots were reported missing; and 
over two hundred thousand Greek Cypriots were evicted from their homes, 
never to return.
  Demetris Drakos, who was a child during the invasion, recently 
recalled his impressions to the BBC: ``Fear and confusion as the Turks 
invaded, running out under the cover of night with nothing but the 
clothes on our backs, leaving behind our ancestral homes, our lives and 
in some cases our loved ones.''
  Subsequently, as part of an ``ethnic cleansing''-style campaign, as 
some have deemed it, the occupying Turkish forces converted churches to 
mosques and brought Turkish squatters to settle in homes from which 
Greek Cypriots had been forced to flee.
  The violent military occupation that began in July 1974 and the 
subsequent illegal actions by Turkey on Cyprus have been repeatedly 
criticized by the international community.
  The United Nations Security Council has passed seventy-five separate 
resolutions calling for Turkey to allow Greek Cypriots to return to 
their homes and to withdraw its troops from Cyprus.
  In 1976, 1983 and again in 2009, the European Court of Human Rights 
ruled that Turkey was illegally occupying Cyprus and must return all 
seized properties to their Greek Cypriot owners.
  Turkey continues to ignore such condemnations of its actions.
  While both the United States and the United Kingdom have 
unequivocally stated their support for a Cypriot-authored solution for 
the reunification of the country with a bi-zonal, bi-communal 
federation enjoying a single sovereignty and citizenship, to date no 
similar commitments or comments have been issued by the Turkish 
government.
  Turkey has a moral obligation to grant the Turkish Cypriot community 
full autonomy in the reunification negotiations and to clearly commit 
to abiding by any terms agreed upon in a Cypriot reunification 
agreement.
  Above all, Turkey must withdraw its occupation troops from Cyprus.
  Those actions would go farther toward achieving peace and stability 
in Cyprus than all the rhetoric of good intentions we have heard over 
and again from Ankara.
  On this 36th anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting 
Cypriot efforts to establish a lasting, peaceful solution to the 
conflict that has ravaged their country and divided their people for 
far too long.

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