30th Anniversary of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus - the Annan Plan: the True Cause of the Economic Isolation of Turkish Cypriots

30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TURKISH INVASION OF CYPRUS-THE ANNAN PLAN: THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC ISOLATION OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 21, 2004)

SPEECH OF
HON. BRAD SHERMAN
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2004

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in memory of a sad event. July 20, 2004 marks the 30-year anniversary of Turkey's invasion and occupation of Cyprus. I would like to join my colleagues in observing this terrible anniversary, and offer some observations on recent events on Cyprus.

On May 1, 2004, Cyprus became a member of the European Union as a divided and occupied nation, its northern part being under illegal Turkish military occupation. The potential reunification of Cyprus is at a critical juncture. Accordingly, the United States and the U.N. must re-examine the key provisions of the Annan Plan in an effort to remedy the deficiencies that now plague the plan and obstruct the potential reunification of Cyprus.

The economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots is not the fault of Greek Cypriots, as the Annan Plan wrongly assumes. Indeed, one of the most egregious aspects of the Annan Plan Report is the inclusion of terms such as "pressure" and "isolation" in reference to the Turkish Cypriots as if this were the fault of the Greek Cypriots. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Report fails to state the truth: The isolation of the Turkish Cypriots is caused by the presence of 35,000-40,000 Turkish troops and the establishment of the Green Line barbed wire fence across the face of Cyprus. Remove the Turkish troops now and the Green Line will disappear, and economic conditions in the north will improve dramatically.

There is no embargo. There is the rule of law. The European Court held that trade goods from the occupied area could not be exported directly but had to go through the legitimate government of Cyprus and its Customs Service. Also, the relatively poor economic conditions in the occupied area have been caused in substantial part by the Turkish
bureaucrats who were sent to the occupied area to run the economy.

There is no justification for maintaining the Green Line's barbed wire fence and the artificial division of the island of Cyprus. When authorities opened parts of the Green Line in Nicosia, more than one million people crossed to visit the their former neighbors and countrymen. They have demonstrated beyond a doubt that the Greek and Turkish Cypriots can live and work together and that there is no security problem for Turkish Cypriots. There is a security problem for the Greek Cypriots: the 35,000-40,000 Turkish occupation troops. Those same troops, of course, are responsible for the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, and thus all of these troops should be removed from the island.

I hope that next year, when July 20 is upon us, there will be no reason to rise and decry a divided Cyprus. All parties should go back and rework the Annan Plan.