[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THANK YOU, CYPRUS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 19, 2006

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, every year I have taken the time to 
remember the Black Anniversary of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus. 
Thirty-two years ago, in 1974, Turkish forces invaded northern Cyprus 
and seized control of more than one-third of the island. In 1983, these 
illegal occupiers arbitrarily declared the territory to be an 
independent state. This so-called ``Turkish Republic of Northern 
Cyprus'' remains to this day shunned by the international community, 
recognized as legitimate only by Turkey.
  This year, an ``invasion'' of another sort is taking place during 
this anniversary. The Republic of Cyprus has opened its skies, its 
communities, and its facilities to thousands of European and American 
evacuees fleeing the fighting in Lebanon. By boat, by ferry, by 
airplane these French, Italian, British, American and other evacuees 
arrive safely on Cypriot soil. There they find peace for the first time 
in many days as they make arrangements to return to their own homelands 
and family members, anxiously awaiting their safe return.
  The Cyprus government has organized reception and hospitality for all 
foreign nationals arriving at the Larnaca Port from Lebanon. The Cyprus 
government is opening up hotels, and providing temporary housing in 
schools, exhibition spaces and prefabricated housing for evacuees while 
they arrange the next stage of their journey home. I am inserting a 
July 19 ANA-MPA wire story on the hospitality of the Cyprus Republic 
for all the evacuees landing on their shores.
  As I see the many photos and broadcast images of evacuees from 
Lebanon arriving safely in Cyprus, my heart is too full to speak this 
year about the dark events of three decades past. I only wish to say 
``thank you'' to President Papadopoulos and to the people of Cyprus, 
thank you for the sanctuary you are providing and serving as a critical 
transit point for these shell-shocked individuals and families.
  The island of Cyprus remains divided because of the brutality and 
intransigence of just one country, Turkey. But this anniversary the 
world has witnessed the compassionate heart of the only true nation of 
Cyprus as it has embraced these evacuees and helped each of them find 
their way home.

                      More Flee Lebanon via Cyprus

       Nicosia.--Organising the reception and hospitality of 
     foreign nationals arriving in Larnaca from Lebanon is a 
     coordinating committee set up by the Cyprus government, which 
     oversees the activities of the various government services 
     and other bodies involved.
       There is heightened activity and traffic at Larnaca port as 
     hundreds of Europeans and Americans arrive on boats from 
     Beirut.
       Arrivals on Wednesday included the Norwegian ship ``Hual 
     Transporter'' with more than 1,100 people on board, mostly of 
     American or Scandinavian origin.
       The U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Ronald Schlicher said that 
     several thousand U.S. citizens were expected to arrive on 
     Cyprus, who would stay in hotels or--if there were not enough 
     beds--in schools and an exhibition space equipped with tents 
     and prefab housing provided by the Cyprus government.
       Thanking Nicosia, Schlicher said that the Cyprus Republic 
     had offered significant assistance and that this could be a 
     good opportunity to deepen U.S.-Cyprus cooperation.
       Later on Wednesday, the Panamanian-flagged ship ``Oriental 
     Queen'' is expected to arrive at the port in Limassol 
     carrying another 800-900 Americans, to be followed by the 
     cruise ship ``Serenate'' that will left off passengers that 
     were on a scheduled cruise to Port Said in Egypt and then 
     depart immediately without passengers.
       The Greek ferry boat ``Ierapetra'', chartered by the French 
     government, set sail for Beirut at dawn on Wednesday to pick 
     up another 2,000-odd people, followed by the Greek Navy tank-
     landing craft ``Alcyone'' soon after it arrived from Greece.
       According to an announcement by the Greek armed forces 
     general staff, meanwhile, the tank-landing craft ``Ikaria'' 
     was expected to arrive in Beirut at 14:30 on Wednesday 
     afternoon.
       The foreigners arriving in Cyprus are mostly leaving from 
     Larnaca airport, or staying at hotels until arrangements for 
     their departure can be made.
       Meanwhile, during the U.S. State Department briefing on the 
     Lebanon evacuation efforts, Assistant Secretary for Consular 
     Affairs Maura Harty expressed gratitude for help offered by 
     the Cyprus Republic.
       ``We're so grateful to them . . . Cypriots have met every 
     helicopter and ship with sandwiches and water and juice. 
     They're just being fantastic. Department of Defense is 
     meeting planes as well for security reasons and for 
     protection purposes,'' she said.
       She also noted that the U.S. was trying to minimise the 
     time spent by its citizens on the island and would try to 
     coordinate the arrival of ships with chartered planes to take 
     them home, as far as possible.
       ``We just want that throughput to be as efficient as it can 
     be. So there is bottled water. There is a fair grounds that 
     we have rented. There are some air-conditioned facilities. 
     The Cypriot Civil Defense Force has been very helpful to us 
     in what they have provided,'' she added.

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