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PRO-ISRAEL GROUPS DENY ROLE IN CYPRUS BILL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/10/18/2741338/pro-israel-groups-deny-role-in-cyprus-bill
Oct 18 2010
WASHINGTON (JTA)
Pro-Israel groups denied any role in passing a congressional resolution
slamming Turkey for its alleged role in removing the Greek cultural
presence in Northern Cyprus.
A report last week in Congressional Quarterly said the Anti-Defamation
League, the American Jewish Committee and the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee lobbied for the nonbinding resolution passed in
the U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 28 by voice vote.
Officials for all three groups denied any such role to JTA.
A spokesman for Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), a Greek American who
initiated the legislation, would say only that "we did not seek
support of any outside group, although many Jewish members of Congress
cosponsored the resolution."
Four Jewish lawmakers are among the 27 sponsors. One is Rep. Howard
Berman (D-Calif.), the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee. Another is Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whose district has
a strong Armenian presence and who routinely has taken on Turkey in
his House career.
Another cosponsor, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Calif.), is of Greek-Jewish
heritage. The House has more than 30 Jewish members.
The Congressional Quarterly story cast what it said was pro-Israel
support for the resolution as part of deteriorating Israel-Turkey
relations in the wake of the 2009 Gaza war and Israel's deadly May 31
raid on a Turkish-flagged aid flotilla attempting to breach Israel's
blockade of Gaza.
Israel and Greece have enhanced ties over the summer, in part because
Turkey recently canceled joint military exercises.
Bilirakis at a recent Washington conference promoting Israeli-Greek
ties said such an evolution was natural, blaming Turkey for alienating
both countries. But diplomats from Greece and Israel at the conference
were at pains to say that enhanced ties would not be at Turkey's
expense.
Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 after a coup engineered by the
ultranationalist junta in power in Greece at the time. The coup had
threatened to remove protections for the island's ethnic Turkish
minority.
Atrocities occurred on both sides. Turkey removed Greek populations in
the north, and Turks in the south moved to the Turkish enclave. The
north declared independence in 1983 under Turkish protection. Only
Turkey has recognized the entity.
International cultural groups have praised Cyprus for preserving
Turkish cultural heritage, and have slammed Turkey and the Turkish
Cypriot authorities for not doing the same in the north, where
international dealers are alleged to have removed priceless Byzantine
artifacts.
Bilirakis' resolution mentions only the Turkish invasion and not the
coup by Greek ultranationalists. By focusing strictly on cultural
heritage, it bypasses claims by both Turks and Greeks regarding
recovery of civilian dead and of property.
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