2024 -- S 2975

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LC005834

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONDEMNING TURKEY FOR ITS ILLEGAL INVASION AND CONTINUED

OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS SINCE 1974

     Introduced By: Senator Leonidas P. Raptakis

     Date Introduced: April 05, 2024

     Referred To: Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs

     WHEREAS, This year marks 50 years since the illegal Turkish invasion in 1974 and

continued occupation, since then, of Cyprus; and

     WHEREAS, This was the first time since World War II, that a European country was

militarily invaded in violation of the United Nations Charter and of international law; and

     WHEREAS, As a result of this invasion and continued occupation, the people of Cyprus

have been suffering the persistent violation of their human rights and fundamental freedoms for

five decades; and

     WHEREAS, More than 160,000 Cypriots (corresponding to one-third of the population

of the island in 1974) have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral land becoming refugees in

their own country; and

     WHEREAS, The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued decisions and

judgments in which the Court confirms that persons, including United States citizens, who hold

title to real property located in the area of the Republic of Cyprus under the illegal Turkish

occupation are the only rightful owners of that real property, but Turkey has refused to comply

with ECHR judgements; and

     WHEREAS, Despite having agreed to do so, the Government of Turkey has failed to

sufficiently support international efforts to find and identify the remains of persons, including

four United States citizens and over 900 Cypriot citizens, who remain missing since the Turkish

invasion of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974; and

     WHEREAS, In violation of the Vienna agreement, reached on August 2nd, 1975, the

Turkish regime has subjected the enslaved people to constant harassment, restrictions on

movement, denial of access to adequate medical care, denial of adequate facilities for education,

restrictions on the right to use their property and the free exercise of their religious rights, in line

with its deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing; and

     WHEREAS, The Government of Turkey has brought over 200,000 illegal settlers into the

occupied territory of Cyprus seeking to change the demography as well as the socio-political

fabric of the area, in violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law; and

     WHEREAS, The Government of Turkey has tolerated or abetted the desecration of

hundreds of Christian churches and religious sites in the occupied territory of Cyprus; and

     WHEREAS, Turkey illegally reopened parts of the fenced-off area of Varosha aiming to

inhabit it by settlers, under the control of the illegal occupying regime, in violation of United

Nations Security Council Resolutions 550 (1984) and 789 (1992), which call for the immediate

return of Varosha to its legal habitants under UN administration; and

     WHEREAS, In full accordance with Turkey's stated goal of partition and ethnic

separation of the island, the occupying regime unilaterally declared, on November 15, 1983, the

so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", a secessionist act which was condemned as

legally invalid by the United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 541 (1983), which calls on

all states to respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the Republic of

Cyprus and to not recognize any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus; and

     WHEREAS, Turkey illegally violates the Republic of Cyprus' maritime zones; and

     WHEREAS, The international community remains committed to a solution of the Cyprus

question based on the United Nations Security Council's resolutions and international law, for a

bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, with a single sovereignty, single citizenship and single

international identity, with political equality as described in relevant United National Security

Council Resolutions; and

     WHEREAS, Turkey openly calls for a "two-state" solution in Cyprus, in violation of

binding United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and in this regard, of the expressed

position of the international community; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby unequivocally

condemns Turkey's illegal invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus since 1974 and:

     (1) Calls upon Turkey to immediately withdraw all of its occupying forces from the

island;

     (2) Calls for the respect of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the

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Republic of Cyprus;

     (3) Underlines that a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus question must to be based on

a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, with single sovereignty, single nationality and single

international personality, with a political system as described in the relevant United Nations

Security Council Resolutions;

     (4) Calls on Turkey to fully respect the European Convention on Human Rights as

regards Cyprus;

     (5) Calls on Turkey to abide by the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian

law as regards its active policy of illegal colonization of the occupied area of the Republic of

Cyprus;

     (6) Calls on Turkey to respect the individual human rights of the enslaved, including

religious freedom, the right of free expression and the right to education;

     (7) Demands Turkey's full cooperation in determining the fate of all remaining missing

persons, including four United States citizens;

     (8) Calls on Turkey to respect the United Nations Security Council Resolution 550

(1984) and 789 (1992) as regards the fenced-off area of Varosha; and

     (9) Calls on Turkey to abide with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

(UNCLOS) and respect the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus in its maritime zones; and

be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the President of the United States of America,

Vice President of the United States of America, the Secretary of State, the Congressional

Delegation of the State of Rhode Island to the United States Congress, the Speaker of the United

States House of Representatives, the United States House Minority Leader, the United States

Senate Majority Leader, the United States Senate Minority Leader, and United Nations Secretary-

General António Guterres.

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LC005834

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