Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “I commend my colleagues Congressman Michael Bilirakis and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for calling this special order…”

“I commend my colleagues Congressman Michael Bilirakis and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for calling this special order and for bringing the public's attention to this sad anniversary we commemorate this week. This Thursday, July 20th marks the 26th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus. On that sad day 26 years ago, over 50,000 heavily armed troops landed in northern Cyprus. Today 35,000 of those troops remain in Cyprus and are used, along with Turkish police forces, to harass and terrorize the Greek-Cypriots remaining in the occupied area. Those Greek-Cypriots remaining in the Turkish occupied area are referred to as the enclaved. They are called the enclaved because when the Turkish forces invaded the island, over 200,000 Greek-Cypriots were forcibly evicted from their homes their families had lived in for centuries. Under an international agreement signed in 1975 called the Vienna III Agreement, 20,000 Greek-Cypriots and Maronites were to be allowed to stay in the northern area called the Karpasia Peninsula and in certain Maronite villages. That Vienna III Agreement had not been honored because of those 20,000, only 500 remain. This is the result of a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation and continuing massive violations of their most basic human rights and freedoms, including those guaranteed by Turkey in the 1975 Vienna III Agreement.”