THE NATIONAL COORDINATED EFFORT OF HELLENES (CEH)
1100 New
Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037
(202)
393-7790 [fax] (202) 628-0225
E-mail:
CoordinatedEffort@Manatos.com
Over 50 Key
Senators, Members
and State
Department Officials
Lobbied for
Cyprus
-- In Less
than 24 Hours, National Leaders Meet with Over 50 Key U.S. Policy-Makers
--
WASHINGTON,
D.C., July 19, 2007 - On the eve of the 33rd commemoration of
the July 20, 1974 invasion and occupation of Cyprus, the leaders of the
national Cypriot community and other national Hellenic leaders traveled to
Washington, D.C. In less than 24 hours, they met with over 50 key
U.S. policy-makers in the U.S. Congress and in the State Department to
commemorate the tragedy of the invasion and to bring to the attention of
these policy-makers the absurdity of 43,000 Turkish occupation troops on
Cyprus when there have been over 12 million incident-free crossings of the
occupation "Green Line." These meetings were secured and
coordinated by the National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH).
The Hellenic
leaders who participated in these meetings included: Philip Christopher,
President, International Coordinating Committee - Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA)
and President of the Pancyprian Association of America; Panicos
Papanicolaou, President, Cyprus Federation of America; Andrew
A. Athens, Honorary World President, World Council of Hellenes (SAE) and
National Chairman, UHAC; Andy Manatos, President, National Coordinated
Effort of Hellenes (CEH); Tasos Zambas, First Vice President,
Cyprus Federation of America; Savas Tsivicos, Alternate President, PSEKA;
Andreas Comodromos, President, U.S.-Cyprus Chamber of Commerce; Endy
Zemenides, President, Hellenic American Leadership Council; and Mike
Manatos, Executive Director, CEH. As well, the Ambassador
of Cyprus to the United States, Andreas Kakouris, and the Ambassador of
Greece to the United States, Alexandros Mallias, participated in many of
these meetings.
These
leaders wore, and asked all those policy-makers with whom they met to
wear, black lapel pins that read "33/12" - these numbers
represent the 33 years of illegal occupation of Cyprus, and the over 12
million incident-free crossings of the occupation "Green Line," thus
obviating any assumed justification for the occupation. A number of
Members of Congress indicated that many in the Congress asked them what
the numbers on these pins meant, and they responded, thus spreading this
concept over dozens more U.S. policy-makers.
Those key
U.S. policy-makers in the U.S. Congress with whom these leaders met
included: the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
candidate for President of the United States, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE);
the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Tom
Lantos (D-CA); the Senator who has taken over the role of Senator Paul
Sarbanes in the U.S. Senate, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is a
Subcommittee Chairman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as is
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), with whom they also met; the Chairman of the
House Europe Subcommittee, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL); the
Chairwoman of the crucial Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee,
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY); the Ranking Republican on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and
the House Majority Leader, Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
From the
State Department, these leaders met with the third-highest-ranking
official at the State Department, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Matthew Bryza,
as well as several other officials from the Department's European Affairs
Bureau.
As well,
these leaders met with Turkey's top advocates in the U.S. Congress,
including the founder and Chairman of the U.S. Congress' Turkey Caucus,
Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), as well as Congressman Bill Pascrell
(D-NJ), who hosted a recent Congressional briefing on Turkey. In
addition, Pascrell is the founder of the so-called "Macedonia
Caucus," which promotes the positions of the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia (FYROM).
These
leaders also gave a Cyprus briefing to several of the Freshmen Democratic
Members of Congress (of whom there are a total of 42), at a gathering
hosted by Greek-American freshmen Congressmen John Sarbanes (D-MD) and
Zack Space (D-OH). As well, they briefed the Freshmen Republican
Members of Congress, including the President of the Republican Freshman
class, Congressman William Sali (R-ID), at a gathering arranged by
Greek-American freshman Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who is also the Co-Chair
of the Hellenic Caucus.
Others in
the U.S. Congress with whom these leaders met included: from the
House Foreign Affairs Committee: Subcommittee Chairmen Donald Payne
(D-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Eliot Engel (D-NY), who is also a member
of the Europe Subcommittee, as are Congressmen Albio Sires (D-NJ) and Gus
Bilirakis (R-FL), with whom they also met, as well as Committee members
Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and Ron Klein (D-FL); from the House Appropriations
Committee, Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) (who is on the crucial Foreign
Operations Subcommittee) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY); Congresswomen Shelley
Berkley (D-NV), whose family is from
the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY),
who is the Co-Chair of the Hellenic
Caucus; as well as many other friends of Cyprus and Greece, including
Representatives Henry Brown (R-SC), Lois Capps (D-CA), Danny Davis
(D-IL), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Vito Fosella (R-NY), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Frank Pallone (D-NJ),
John Salazar (D-CO) and Anthony Weiner (D-NY).
Andrew A. Athens, Chairman,
National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH); National Chairman, United
Hellenic American Congress (UHAC), Honorary President, World Council of
Hellenes Abroad (SAE)
Philip Christopher, Vice
Chair, National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH); President,
International Coordinating Committee--Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA);
President, Pancyprian Association of America
Andrew E. Manatos, President,
National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH); Executive Board Member,
UHAC and PSEKA
Panicos Papanicolaou, Supreme
President, Cyprus Federation of America
Nikos Mouyiaris, Executive
Vice President, Pancyprian Association of America
