[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 263 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 263
Condemning Turkey for its illegal occupation of Cyprus and encouraging
President Biden to make the resolution of the Cyprus problem a top
foreign policy priority.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 28, 2023
Ms. Malliotakis (for herself, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Pappas, and Ms. Titus)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemning Turkey for its illegal occupation of Cyprus and encouraging
President Biden to make the resolution of the Cyprus problem a top
foreign policy priority.
Whereas Turkey has been a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member since
1952 and is thus a treaty ally of the United States;
Whereas modern Turkey was founded upon the principles of republicanism and
laicite;
Whereas Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the authoritarian leader of
Turkey since 2003, has grounded his decision making in an extremist form
of religio-nationalism;
Whereas, under President Erdogan, Turkey seeks to establish itself as the
hegemon of the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Caucuses,
and as a result has taken provocative actions toward NATO allies, the
European Union, and the broader region;
Whereas President Erdogan's expansionist political ideology necessitates
aggression toward Cyprus;
Whereas the Government of Turkey ordered its military to invade the Republic of
Cyprus in 1974 in violation of the Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty
of Alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty, and the Treaty of Guarantee,
which established the Republic of Cyprus and guaranteed the independence
of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as the United Nations Charter and
customary international law;
Whereas the Government of 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;
Whereas the Government of Turkey 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;
Whereas Turkey is a member state of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR);
Whereas the ECHR has issued decisions and judgments in which the Court confirms
that persons, including United States citizens, who hold title to real
property located in the area of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by the
Turkish military are the only rightful owners of that real property, but
Turkey has refused to comply with the ECHR judgment;
Whereas, despite having agreed to do so, the Government of Turkey has failed to
support international efforts to find and identify the remains of
persons, including four United States citizens who remain missing since
the Turkish invasion of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974;
Whereas Turkey illegally violates the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone;
Whereas President 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;
Whereas President Erdogan has openly called for a ``two-state'' solution
regarding Cyprus, in violation of United Nations 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; and
Whereas, in a January 27, 1989, letter to a prominent Greek-American leader from
Delaware, Dr. Dean Lomis, then-Senator Biden stated: ``. . . we must
urge the new Administration [President George H.W. Bush] to make Cyprus
a higher policy priority in American foreign policy . . . we cannot lose
sight of the fact that the rights of Greek Cypriots have been trampled
upon, and we must ensure that their claims to ancestral land and
property seized during the 1974 invasion are not compromised. Finally,
we must send a signal to Turkey that until it has removed every last
soldier from Cyprus, it will never be recognized as a full member of the
international community.'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) strongly condemns Turkey's continued occupation of
Cyprus, and calls upon Turkey to immediately withdraw all of
its estimated 35,000 occupying troops from the island;
(2) calls upon Turkey to adhere to the democratic
principles and mission of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization;
(3) reiterates that the settlement of the Cyprus problem
needs to be based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation in a
State with single sovereignty and international personality,
and that this entity should embrace constitutional democratic
norms and American principles, the European Union (EU) acquis
Communautaire and EU Founding Treaty, United Nations
resolutions on Cyprus, and pertinent decisions of the European
Court of Human Rights and other European courts;
(4) calls on Turkey to cease and desist from its illegal
interference in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone;
(5) calls on the Turkish Government to provide avenues for
American citizens to seek financial remedies or restitution for
their property losses in the Turkish-occupied territory of
Cyprus;
(6) demands Turkey's cooperation in helping recover the
four American citizens who are still missing as a result of the
1974 invasion of Cyprus;
(7) calls on Turkey to remove its over 200,000 illegal
settlers from Turkish-occupied Cyprus and assist in
repatriating Greek-Cypriot refugees to their ancestral homes;
and
(8) encourages President Biden to make the resolution of
the Cyprus problem a top foreign policy priority for his
Administration, a position that President Biden has held for
decades.
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