[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17009-17010]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       31ST ANNIVERSARY OF TURKEY'S ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday July 20 marked the 31st 
anniversary of an illegal and inexcusable act by Turkey. Thirty-one 
years ago yesterday Turkish military forces illegally invaded Cyprus, 
forcing nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. And these Greek 
Cypriots became refugees in their own country and have remained 
refugees for the past 3 decades.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.N. Security Council resolved in both 1974 and 1975 
that the Turkish occupiers had to facilitate the safe return of all 
refugees to their homes. For 31 years, Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf 
Denktash has defiantly refused to abide by these U.N. resolutions.
  Furthermore, in December of 1996 the European Court of Human Rights 
ruled that refugee Titina Loizidou be given access to her property in 
the occupied territory. And once again this court ruling was met with 
defiance from the Turkish occupiers.
  After waiting for 2 years for Turkey to comply, Loizidou then went 
back to the European Court again and this time asking that the Turkish 
government compensate her for the property. The European Court ruled 
the Turkish government should pay Loizidou 458,000 Cyprus pounds. And 
it has now been 7 years and the Turkish government still refuses to 
comply.
  Mr. Speaker, Turkey's intransigence is unacceptable and must come to 
an end. Earlier this year I joined the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Bilirakis) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the co-
chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, in introducing 
legislation that would put this House on record in support of the 
European Court's decisions and expressing our desire that the Court 
hear more cases regarding illegal seizures of Cypriot property by the 
Turkish Cypriot regime. Turkey's refusal to comply with these court 
decisions should not go unnoticed by this House, and that is why it is 
important that we pass this important resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, Cypriot-Americans are among the refugees that are being 
denied access to their property by Turkey. Since these Americans cannot 
return to their illegally seized property, I believe these Cypriot-
Americans should be allowed to seek financial remedies with either the 
current inhabitants of their land or the Turkish government itself.
  So earlier this year I introduced the bipartisan American Owned 
Property in Occupied Cyprus claims Act. The legislation authorizes the 
President to initiate a claims program under which the claims of U.S. 
nationals who Turkey has excluded from their property can be judged 
before the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. If this commission 
determined that Cypriot-Americans should be compensated for their 
property, negotiations would then take place between the United States 
and Turkey to determine the proper compensation. My legislation would 
also empower U.S. District courts to hear causes of action against 
either the individuals who now occupy those properties or the Turkish 
government.
  Passage of this legislation is particularly crucial today as reports 
show sharp increases in the number of unlawful investments of occupied 
properties and a construction boom on land that continues to be owned 
by approximately 170,000 Greek-Cypriots, many of whom are now U.S. 
citizens. The source of this disturbing trend is the decision of the 
Turkish occupation regime to

[[Page 17010]]

permit current possessors of property to transfer such property to 
third parties. And today there is a mistaken impression among buyers of 
such properties that unlawful investments in occupied territories will 
be safeguarded in the future.
  As a result, a secondary market involving transactions in legal 
properties has arisen, as illegal occupiers of the land have begun to 
sell their alleged ownership to third parties, including corporations 
and Europeans.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, these actions only exacerbate the difficult 
property issues that must be addressed before the Cyprus issue can be 
solved. And it is important that in looking at this conflict, both the 
United States and the United Nations do not forget Turkey's 30-year 
defiance of U.N. court decisions relating to the illegal seizure of 
property. Some 200,000 refugees have waited 31 years to either return 
to their homes or to receive proper compensation. And, Mr. Speaker, it 
is my hope that direct negotiations will begin again soon, and that we 
can finally end Turkey's 31-year illegal occupation of Cyprus.

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