In a letter (22 March 2012) to US Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard L. Berman, urges a “thoroughgoing re-assessment” of the US policy on Cyprus, taking into account Turkey’s military threats ["Turkey's threats constitute bullying and are way out of line"] against Cyprus and its “colonialist transfer of population from the Turkish mainland.”
“The reunification of the Republic of Cyprus is of critical importance to the stability of the Eastern Mediterranean, a vital U.S. interest,” says the powerful congressman from California, adding that:
“I am deeply disturbed by two Cyprus-related developments — one ongoing for decades, the other of more recent vintage — that threaten the vital interest. These developments directly undermine long-standing elements of the U.S. position in support of Cyprus reunification and call into question our ability to sustain that position.
The first development cited by Berman is Turkey’s military threats against Cyprus in connection to the island state’s drilling for Hydrocarbons in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The second development Berman cites is Turkey’s “increasing draconian efforts to alter the demographic composition of Cyprus. Berman says that “Turkey has sent hundreds of thousands of Turkish citizens to Cyprus since 1974, meanwhile, the number of authentic Turkish Cypriots living in the occupied area has actually declined over the past 38 years and is now dwarfed by the number of Turkey-origin Turkish residents.
Berman urges the US government to express its support for Cyprus’s demographic integrity “forcefully” and he states that Turkey is doing all that in order to gain advantages in the negotiations and because it’s trying to hold on to the occupied area and possibly expand it.
The Democrat congressman, also expresses his concern over Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bağış’s statements of “Turkish annexation of the occupied territory”
Letter dated 22 March 2012 by Ranking Democratic Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard L. Berman to Hillary Clinton on Cyprus
Howard L. Berman Asks US Government to Reassess Its Policy On Cyprus - CyprusNewsReport.com 3 April 2012
