| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: GEORGIA ECONOMOU |
| May
19,
2005—No.45 |
(202)
785-8430 |
Greek American Organizations’ Policy Statement
on
Compensation to Turkey’s Victims
WASHINGTON, DC—American Hellenic Institute president Gene Rossides
announced today that the major Greek American membership organizations
endorsed the policy statement on "Compensation to Turkey’s Victims" prepared
by the American Hellenic Institute. These are: the Order of AHEPA,
the Hellenic American National Council, the Cyprus Federation of
America, the Panepirotic Federation of America, the Pan-Macedonian
Association of America, the Evrytanian Association of America and
the American Hellenic Institute. The endorsed statement, which is
part of the 2005 Greek American Policy Statements, follows:
Compensation To Turkey's Victims
We cite the compensation paid by the government of Germany
to holocaust victims and to the state of Israel and the government
of Japan to the victims of its actions in Asia before and during
World War II. We call on the U.S. government to press Turkey to pay
compensation:
- to the victims of Turkey's illegal invasion of Cyprus of 1974;
- to
the owners of property in Cyprus illegally taken, occupied and
used by the Turkish authorities and individuals since 1974;
- to
the victims of the September 1955 Turkish pogrom against its Greek
citizens in Istanbul. The Turkish government at the time said it
would pay compensation to those victims but it has failed to do
so;
- to the victims of the Turkish genocide against the Pontian Greeks
in the 1920's;
- to the victims of the Turkish massacre of the Greek
and Armenian populations of Smyrna (now Izmir) in 1922 under Kemal
Ataturk's orders; and
- to the victims of Turkey's Armenian Genocide
in 1915.
Turkey, under threat of expulsion from the Council
of Europe, finally complied with the ruling of the European Court
and paid the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which
awarded $1.3 million in damages to Titina Loizidou for the violation
of her property rights in the occupied area in connection with Turkey’s
illegal invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and its continuing illegal occupation.
It demonstrates that forceful action regarding Turkey will bring
results. We call for payments to all similarly situated Greek Cypriots
and other owners of property in the occupied area, including American
owners.
###
For additional information, please contact Georgia
Economou at (202) 785-8430 or
at georgia@ahiworld.org.
For general information about the activities of AHI, please see
our Web site at http://www.ahiworld.org.
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