[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12704-12705]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. RICK LARSEN

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 2014

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, July 20th marked the 40th 
anniversary of Turkey's invasion of Cyprus.
  Forty years ago thousands of Turkish troops invaded and occupied the 
northern part of Cyprus. Thousands of Greek Cypriots were forced to 
flee their homes and many remain missing to this day.
  Those forced to flee live as refugees within their own country as 
their former homes remain occupied or sold without notification or 
consent. Turkey also continues to obstruct the process of determining 
the fate of the persons missing since the invasion. Reports indicate 
that their remains were dumped in a mass grave, deemed as a classified 
military area, and are closed off to families of the missing.
  Additionally, freedom of worship continues to be severely restricted, 
access to religious sites blocked, religious sites systematically 
destroyed and a large number of religious and archaeological objects 
stolen.
  The continued occupation of the northern part of Cyprus undermines 
the unified democratic aspirations of our important ally.
  Mr. Speaker, today I call for an end to the occupation and division 
of Cyprus and urge geographic, political, and economic unity. A strong 
and stable democracy in Cyprus is not

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only beneficial to its people but to its relationships with its allies 
around the world.
  We must work to end the occupation of Cyprus for once and for all. I 
stand with Cyprus and urge an end to their 40 year occupation.

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