GREEK COMMUNITY OF U.S. URGES U.S. AMBASSADOR IN TURKEY RECALLED
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2010 15:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) called on the
U.S. President Barack Obama to immediately recall the U.S. ambassador
in Turkey James Jeffrey , after he described Turkey as a "peaceful
country that doesn’t invade neighbors and as being closer to the EU
than Cyprus".
Statements by James Jeffrey about a necessitated Turkish military
presence in Cyprus were discussed at the meeting of the U.S. Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations. Senator Robert Menendez, who is an
advocator of Armenian and Greek interests, recalling of 40 thousand
Turkish troops invaded Cyprus, asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton: "U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told a Turkish
newspaper that Turkey has security concerns in Cyprus. This is an
argument in favors of keeping the Turkish military troops in Cyprus.
Was Ambassador misspoke?"
U.S. Secretary of State said that he could not speak on behalf of the
Ambassador. "But I think he just expressed the position of the Turkish
government. Certainly, we his words as the position of the Turkish
side, but not American," Clinton said, the Sabah newspaper wrote.
"Ambassador Jeffrey’s responses for the public record were alarming
and bring into question the Obama Administration’s policy as it
specifically relates to Cyprus," said AHI. "AHI views the ambassador’s
remarks as unacceptable, disappointing and damaging to U.S.
interests," the organisation said in a statement.
In 1974, following 11 years of intercommunal violence and an
attempted coup d’etat by Greek Cypriot nationalists, Turkey invaded
and occupied the northern portion of the island. The Turkish invasion
led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Cypriots and the
establishment of a separate Turkish Cypriot political entity in the
north. This event and its resulting political situation are matters of
Cyprus dispute. The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over
the entire island of Cyprus and its surrounding waters except small
portions allocated by treaty to the UK as sovereign military bases.
The Republic is de facto partitioned into two main parts, the area
under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, comprising
about 59% of the island’s area and the Turkish-occupied area in
the north, calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
covering about 37% of the island’s area and recognized only by Turkey.