[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12116]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TURKISH OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS

  (Mr. SARBANES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark 40 years that Turkish 
troops have unlawfully occupied the Republic of Cyprus, an occupation 
that undermines stability in an already volatile eastern Mediterranean, 
weakens the NATO alliance, and defies the European Union's peace 
project.
  For 40 years, Turkey has frustrated every meaningful attempt to 
advance a just solution in Cyprus. Instead, its program has been one of 
systematically dismantling the religious, cultural, and ethnic identity 
of the island. The sad irony of Turkey's forced division of Cyprus is 
that it separates two communities, Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot, 
that are, themselves, ready and willing to seek reunification.
  This Congress, this administration, our Nation must insist that 
Turkey act in good faith to achieve what the people of Cyprus--all the 
people of Cyprus--so deeply desire: an end to this tragic occupation.

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