Speech #1100187740

I am pleased to be working with Ambassador Andreas Kakouris of Cyprus to garner congressional support for this initiative. Moreover. the United States should be doing its part to address one of the most devastating effects of the occupation on CypriotAmerican families by providing the means for U.S. citizens with claims to property in the Turkishoccupied north of Cyprus to seek redress for the homes that have been destroyed or taken from them. The invasion by the Turkish troops in 1974 forced nearly 200.000 Greek Cypriotsnearly onethird of the Cypriot population at the timefrom their homes. making them refugees in their own country. A large proportion of the properties from which the Greek Cypriot owners were expelled was unlawfully distributed to the tens of thousands of illegal settlers from Turkey. An estimated 7.000 to 10.000 U.S. citizens of Cypriot descent have claims to such properties.