[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 110 (Monday, July 23, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H5082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        TURKISH OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS IS OFFENSE TO HUMAN DIGNITY

  (Mr. SARBANES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the 38th year of 
Turkey's invasion and occupation of the Republic of Cyprus. I do so 
only days after Cyprus assumed the 6-month presidency of the European 
Union, yet Turkey, an EU candidate country, refuses to recognize the 
Cypriot presidency and has acted to freeze its communications with the 
European Union.
  Since 1974, Turkey has engaged in the systematic destruction of the 
island's Hellenic, Christian, and Turkish Cypriot heritage. This year, 
the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom placed Turkey on 
its watch list ``as a country of particular concern.''
  The presence of 45,000 Turkish troops on the island, along with over 
200,000 Turkish colonialists, is an offense to human dignity.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for Turkey to meet the expectations of the 
international community by ending its decades-long occupation of 
Cyprus.

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