n January, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida will be the next Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, a position now held by CA Congressman Howard Berman.
The Congresswoman, who has been busy meeting with several representatives of foreign governments, recently met with both the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Turkish Ambassador to the United States.
During both meetings, Ms Ros-Lehtinen stressed the issue of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the need for more religious freedom in Turkey. She specifically asked for re-opening of the Halki Seminary and the removal of the strict criteria for Patriarchical Succession.
She also expressed her dissatisfaction to the Turkish Ambassador about the lack of progress towards a resolution to the Cyprus problem. In a press release from her office after her meeting, she stated that "Turkey's position on the conflict in Cyprus , which has divided that country for almost four decades is deeply concerning. Turkey must fully support a Cypriot solution to reunification of the island and immediately withdraw its troops from northern Cyprus".
Ms. Lehtinen also raised her concern about Turkey's support of Iran and stated that "if Turkey does not make progress on all of the above issues soon, there is risk for permanent damage to its relationship with the United States."
In a statement following the communications we received from the Congresswoman, Alexander Mizan, Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council said that "we are applauding the fact that the Ranking Republican Member (and soon to be Chairman) of the Foreign Affairs Committee is raising these important issues with the Turkish Foreign Minister and the Turkish Ambassador. These are issues that need to be brought to the forefront of the debate and get addressed. Turkey is an ally of the United States and it should behave by protecting the human rights of its very own citizens as well as adhere to international law and treaties".
We believe that the statements made by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen are very encouraging for the issues that concern us as Greek-Americans. She has proven to be a good friend of the community and a supporter of our issues. We hope that as Chairman she leads the Foreign Affairs Committee into taking further action towards pressing Turkey to resolve those issues soon.
American Hellenic Council
