[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 114 (Friday, July 30, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORT FOR THE REUNIFICATION OF CYPRUS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 30, 2010

  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I wish to speak today about an injustice 
that has been taking place in Cyprus for the last 36 years.
  In 1974, when hostilities broke out on the small island, Turkey began 
its military occupation of more than one-third of Cypriot land.
  Nearly ten years later, the Turks declared this land to be the 
``Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus''. To this day, the only country 
to recognize this declaration is Turkey, which still illegally occupies 
the northern part of Cyprus.
  Currently there are about 36,000 Turkish troops occupying the North 
of Cyprus. They stand as a physical manifestation of the barrier Turkey 
is putting up against Cypriot reunification.
  Turkey has made other efforts to discourage reunification. According 
to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Turkey has 
deliberately and continuously modified the demographics of the island, 
and they have enacted a system of ``naturalization'' that encourages 
mainland Turks to move to Cyprus.
  This occupation is made all the more tragic by its needlessness. 
Thirteen million Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots have crossed into 
each others communities without incident. They seek to live together as 
neighbors in countries to which they have emigrated. There is no reason 
for these peoples to be divided.
  We have reason to be hopeful--Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders have 
been engaged in UN-sponsored negotiations since September 2008 to 
reunify the island.
  The United States has an important role to play in the reunification 
of Cyprus. We must ensure that we are doing all we can to make the 
island unified once more by working with the European Union, Turkey, 
and all citizens of Cyprus toward a peaceful and fair resolution of 
this decades-old conflict.

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