9 As you very well know, over 29 years of conflict have made this an extremely difficult issue to resolve for both the Greek and the Turkish Cypriot communities. However, the United States, Turkey, Greece and the international community have an obligation and a duty to bring both parties back to the negotiation table. It is impor- tant that we do not let past failures get in the way of future nego- tiations in a lasting settlement of this issue. I hope that both Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will renew their commitment to bridg- ing the divide that separates their people. Recent comments, as you have mentioned Mr. Chairman, by both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have been positive and we must, as your resolution does in fact state, redouble our efforts in order to secure a lasting settlement. Mr. Chairman, a lot of international attention and consternation, whether justified or not, has been focused on the Turkish Cypriot effort and that of the government of Turkey to do their part to bring about a fair resolution to this issue. In this vein, I was very pleased to see just yesterday in a press statement by Turkish lead- er Mr. Denktash, that he has taken positive steps to initiate a new process of dialogue and consultation that will hopefully lead to a comprehensive settlement. Mr. Denktash in his press statement provides a detailed proposal which he has presented to Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos in a written letter. In his letter to Mr. Papadopoulos, Mr. Denktash proposes lifting all overseas trade, transport, travel and cultural activities from or to both parts of Cyprus. He calls for freedom of movement to be fa- cilitated between the two sides and restrictions on the movement of tourists to be lifted. His measures also include allowing Greek Cypriot refugees to re- turn to the Greek Cypriot sector of Famagusta. Finally, Mr. Denktash has also expressed his willingness to meet with Mr. Papadopoulos to discuss the core issues of a comprehen- sive settlement with the objective of reaching an agreement be- tween Greek and Turkish Cypriots. These are a few examples of the positive measures Mr. Denktash has proposed in order to restart dialogue and to achieve a com- prehensive settlement. I hope this Committee and the Bush Administration will encour- age Mr. Denktash to continue his efforts and be willing to expend a great deal of effort and political capital to move this process for- ward and to assist Mr. Denktash as he makes difficult decisions. As for Turkey's role which I know has been criticized by some in Washington and in Europe, I believe that the new government in Ankara which is dealing with several major crises at the same time including military action in Iraq, efforts to achieve EU accession, a weak economy, and a just resolution to Cyprus, is making every legitimate effort to resolve this very difficult issue. I am optimistic that Prime Minister Erdogan and his government are truly committed to a fair settlement of this issue. Last Friday Prime Minister Erdogan offered to bring Turkish and Greek Cypriots together with the three guarantor countries, Turkey, Greece and Britain. 10 Furthermore, as you mentioned, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will be in Northern Cyprus on Thursday, today, to meet with Turk- ish Cypriot leaders to discuss efforts to restart talks with the Greek leaders. Mr. Gul also will be traveling to a Balkan Summit in Belgrade where he will meet with Greek leaders to discuss Cyprus. These are all positive developments which I hope will be the cat- alyst for new discussions between both sides. When I was in Ankara 242 weeks ago with Mr. Rogers of Michi- gan, we talked with Mr. Erdogan who was not yet the Prime Min- ister, about Cyprus. Mr. Erdogan was totally supportive of the U.N. process. So I believe this is an opportunity for us, as your resolu- tion states, to encourage our strong allies in Turkey to continue this effort. As we attempt to jumpstart this process again, it is im- portant to recognize that it is going to take an even greater com- mitment from the United States es and the international community to achieve a lasting settlement to the Cyprus issue. I hope and I am confident that our colleagues on the Europe Sub- committee and throughout the entire Congress will work to achieve a just resolution of this issue that is in the best interest of both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as the United States. Thank you. Mr. BEREUTER. We appreciate your statement. This is the time of maximum leverage because of the accession of Cyprus to the Eu- ropean Union. Are there other Members that have statements? Seeing none, I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk will report. Ms. RUSH. En bloc amendment offered by Mr. Bereuter. In the 1st clause of the preamble, strike “people of Cyprus and” [The information referred to follows:] EN BLOC AMENDMENT TO H. RES. 165 OFFERED BY MR. BEREUTER In the 1st clause of the preamble, strike “people of Cyprus and” and insert “Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as” In the 5th clause of the preamble, strike "the population of Cyprus" and insert “Greek and Turkish Cypriots" In the 6th clause of the preamble after “2002” insert “and again on February 26, 2003" In the 7th clause of the preamble, strike “two sides” and insert “Greek and Turk- ish Cypriot leaders” and strike “were encouraged to intensify their efforts” and in- sert "were encouraged to be intensified” In the 8th clause of the preamble, strike “two leaders on Cyprus” and insert “Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders” In the 10th clause of the preamble, strike “2” and insert “Greek and Turkish Cyp- riot” In the 11th clause of the preamble, strike "both leaders on Cyprus” and insert "both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders” In the 12th clause of the preamble strike, “the people of Cyprus” and insert "Greek and Turkish Cypriots” Page 4, line 1, strike “people of Cyprus” and insert "Greek and Turkish Cypriots” Page 4, line 5, strike “people of Cyprus” and insert “Greek and Turkish Cypriots” Page 4, line 10, strike "people” and insert “community” Page 5, line 5, strike “Cypriot communities” and insert “Greek and Turkish Cyp- riots' Page 5, line 9, strike “people of Cyprus” and insert "Greek and Turkish Cypriots” 12 Ms. RUSH. H. Con. Res. 129 expressing appreciation for the long- standing support and friendship of the people and the Government of the United Kingdom. [The resolution, H. Con. Res. 129, follows:] 17 IV 108TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 154 Commending the Prime Minister of Great Britain for his stalwart leadership and unwavering support of the United States in the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction and free the Iraqi people of the scourge of brutal dictatorship. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 20, 2003 Mr. GALLEGLY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations RESOLUTION Commending the Prime Minister of Great Britain for his stalwart leadership and unwavering support of the United States in the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction and free the Iraqi people of the scourge of brutal dictatorship. Whereas British Prime Minister Tony Blair has shown coura- geous leadership in cooperating with the United States in the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction; Whereas Prime Minister Tony Blair has shown great for- titude in championing the urgent necessity to disarm Saddam Hussein; 23 It is basically a merger of the elements of H. Con. Res. 129 with your own and I urge adoption of the substitute. The question then occurs on the amendment. All those in favor will say aye. [Chorus of ayes] Mr. BEREUTER. All those opposed will say no. [No audible response] Mr. BEREUTER. In the opinion of the Chair the ayes have it. Are there further amendments to the bill? [No audible response] Mr. BEREUTER. The question occurs then on the amendment and nature of a substitute. All in favor will say aye. [Chorus of ayes] Mr. BEREUTER. Those opposed will say no. [No audible response] Mr. BEREUTER. The Chair will now entertain a motion that the resolution be reported favorably to the Full Committee as amended by the amendment in the nature of a substitute, and by the way I did not announce that the amendment was approved. Thank you, Mr. Gallegly. The question occurs on the motion to report H. Res. 154 favor- ably as amended. All in favor will say aye. [Chorus of ayes] Mr. BEREUTER. All opposed will say no. The motion is approved and the bill is reported favorably. Without objection the staff is directed to make any technical and conforming amendments. I do not believe we can complete action on the Belarus legisla- tion. It is my intent to come back and do it. I think it is non-con- troversial. I think it is important that we move it, but I believe we would delay the Members and miss a vote potentially. The Subcommittee will stand in recess until immediately after the vote. We may have a vote on the rule. This is on a previous question. [Recess] Mr. BEREUTER. The Subcommittee will come to order. Before I call up the resolution I want to say a few words infor- mally about H. Res. 854. First of all it is introduced by our colleague on the Committee, Chris Smith, the gentleman from New Jersey. He has been ex- tremely active, as the Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission here in the House, and active in the OSCE. I happen to think, in my view, that the resolution is an excellent one and it reflects a lot of work. I would say from my own experience on the NATO Parliamen- tary Assembly we have looked into Belarus for some period of time. It is the only country that was an associate member that we reluc- tantly with good cause and unanimously expelled from the assem- bly because of their outrageous practices, because of their lack of democracy and the activities in particular of the President which relates to violence. 33 9 1 cant progress in meeting the conditions described in sub- 2 section (b). در (b) CONDITIONS.—The conditions referred to in sub- 4 section (a) are the following: 5 (1) The release of individuals in Belarus who 6 have been jailed based on political or religious be- 7 liefs. 8 (2) The withdrawal of politically motivated legal 9 charges against all opposition figures and inde- 10 pendent journalists in Belarus. 11 (3) A full accounting of the disappearances of 12 opposition leaders and journalists in Belarus, includ- 13 ing Victor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, Yuri 14 Zakharenka, and Dmitry Zavadsky, and the prosecu- 15 tion of those individuals who are responsible for 16 their disappearances. 17 (4) The cessation of all forms of harassment 18 and repression against the independent media, inde- 19 pendent trade unions, nongovernmental organiza- 20 tions, religious organizations (including their leader- 21 ship and members), and the political opposition in 22 Belarus. 23 (5) The implementation of free and fair presi- 24 dential and parliamentary elections in Belarus con- •HR 854 IH