AHI Sends Letter to President George W. Bush

1. Setting the record straight on the Annan Plan; and
2. Cover-up of the State Department’s role in Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus

WASHINGTON, DC—On June 21, 2004 AHI President Gene Rossides sent a letter to President George W. Bush on (1) setting the record straight on the Annan Plan and (2) the cover-up of the State Department’s role in Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus. The text of the letter follows:

June 21, 2004
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re:   Letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on
        (1) Setting the record straight on the Annan Plan; and
        (2) Cover-up of the State Department’s role in Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974

Dear Mr. President:

I am enclosing a copy for you of my detailed letter to Secretary Colin L. Powell on the above subjects. Most of the letter is devoted to setting the record straight on the Annan Plan in view of the unseemly and undiplomatic attacks by U.S. officials on the Greek Cypriots for their "no" vote of 76 percent on the Annan Plan for Cyprus and statements to reward the Turkish Cypriots for their "yes" vote of 65 percent.

Setting the record straight on the Annan Plan

The following topics are discussed under this heading:

▪ The undemocratic veto for the 18 percent Turkish Cypriot minority;
▪ The proposal is unworkable;
▪ The proposal subverts property rights;
▪ The proposal is not financially viable;
▪ The security issue—the proposal fails to fully demilitarize Cyprus and gives Turkey "intervention" rights;
▪ The proposal does not provide for the return to Turkey of the 119,000 illegal settlers in the occupied area;
▪ The proposed territorial adjustment is clearly unfair;
▪ The Annan Plan and economic isolation/embargoes;
▪ The Annan Plan and the Rule of Law;
▪ The failure to hold Turkey accountable for its aggression against Cyprus;
▪ Compensation from Turkey for the victims of Turkey’s aggression;
▪ The pro-Turkish bias in the Annan Plan; and
▪ Mr. Secretary, you have been misled.

Cover-up of the State Department’s role in Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974

This section covers in detail the State Department’s illegal actions under Secretary Henry A. Kissinger in 1974 which encouraged Turkey to invade Cyprus on July 20, 1974 and thereafter further encouraged Turkey to break the UN cease-fire and to renew its aggression on August 14, 1974, three weeks after the legitimate government of Cyprus had been returned to office. In the second phase of the aggression Turkey occupied an additional 33 percent of Cyprus for a total of 37.3 percent.

_______________

For all the reasons set forth in the discussion of the topics above, the Annan Plan was unfair, unbalanced, unworkable, not financially viable, rewarded the aggressor, Turkey, and punished the victims, the Greek Cypriots. For the State Department to contend otherwise is Orwellian.

The Greek Cypriots worked hard and abided by the rule of law to pull themselves up from the destruction, killings and rapes caused by the Turkish military in 1974 and thereafter. They have supported the U.S. throughout this period, particularly in the Persian Gulf War period in 1990 and 1991 and the Iraq War of 2003 while Turkey did not. The Greek Cypriots deserve better from the U.S. and the UN.

The U.S. should muster the political will (1) to apply diplomatic and economic pressure on Turkey to remove promptly its 35,000/40,000 troops and settlers from Cyprus, and (2) to apply the American principles of majority rule, the rule of law and protection of minority rights to Cyprus as we have to Afghanistan.

Mr. President, I bring to your attention that then Vice President Bush made the following statement in Boston on July 7, 1988:

"We seek for Cyprus a constitutional democracy based on majority rule, the rule of law and the protection of minority rights . . . . I want to see a democratic Cyprus free from the threat of war."

Respectfully,

/s/Gene Rossides

Enclosure
cc:    Vice President Richard B. Cheney
        Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow
        Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
        UN Ambassador John D. Negroponte
        Deputy Secretary of State Richard Lee Armitage
        Chief of Staff Andrew Card
        National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
        Senior Advisor to the President Karl Rove
        Advisor to the President Karen Hughes
        Director of OMB Joshua Bolten
        Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman
        Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Elizabeth Jones
        Special Coordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston
        The Congress
        UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
        UN Under-Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto, Special Advisor on Cyprus

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For additional information, please contact Vivian Basdekis at (202) 785-8430 or at vivian@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our Web site at http://www.ahiworld.org.

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