Four Greek American US Representatives introduced a bipartisan resolution in Congress calling on President-elect Trump to work for a Cyprus solution.
The resolution tabled by Nicole Malliotakis, Gus Bilirakis, Chris Pappas and Dina Titus condemns Turkey’s ongoing occupation of one-third of the island while urging Donald Trump to make a solution for Cyprus a top US foreign policy priority.
The resolution also aims at the policies of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, stressing that the latter “bases his policy on an extreme form of religious nationalism and seeks to establish himself as a hegemonic power in the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Caucasus”.
Resolution in Congress reminds Trump of Cyprus occupation
It says that Turkey has tolerated or abetted the desecration of more than 500 Orthodox Christian churches and religious sites in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus that the Turkish military occupies and that has brought in over 200,000 illegal settlers into the occupied area of Cyprus to change the sociopolitical and demographic fabric of the area, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Additionally, the resolution calls on Turkey to stop illegal activities in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and align itself with the NATO alliance’s democratic principles and mission.
The lawmakers also state that any solution to the Cyprus problem must be based on the long-standing premises of a bizonal, bicommunal federation framework.
Other points in the resolution demand that Turkey fulfill compensation claims by US citizens for properties in the Turkish-occupied parts of Cyprus and cooperate in locating four American citizens missing since the July 1974 invasion.
Turkey advocates two-state solution in Cyprus
It also recalls that Erdogan has illegally reopened the beach in Varosha, a once-thriving tourist town which the Turkish military ethnically cleansed of its Greek Cypriot population in 1974; and continues to call for a “two-state” solution regarding Cyprus, in violation of UN resolutions, international law, and the position of the United States Government, which is that a Cyprus solution should be within the framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.
Last week Turkey renewed calls for a two-state solution to the long-standing Cyprus dispute during the visit of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to the occupied northern part of the Mediterranean island.
Fidan criticized attempts to revive outdated solution formulas, stating, “Ignoring the existing reality and trying to produce a solution to the Cyprus problem from 50-year-old status quo is really wasting time in vain.”
Stating that the isolation that the Turkish Cypriots have been subjected to for the last 50 years has “almost turned into a silent crime against humanity,” he added.
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