WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States condemned the announcement on Tuesday that parts of an abandoned town in Cyprus would be transferred to Turkish Cypriot control, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statemen

Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying that a peace accord between two sovereign states is the only viable option for Cyprus.Turkey’s strongman repeated the call for a “two-state solution” during a visit to the Turkish-occupied north during which Turkish Cypriot authorities controversially announced a partial reopening of the abandoned town of Varosha for potential resettlement. 

“I will say that over several administrations, we have been rather passive in my view, about this engagement and all we see is Erdogan continuing to encroach… in the exclusive economic zone of not only Cyprus, seeking to do so with Greece,” said Menendez, as the committee held a hearing on President Joe Biden’s nominees for State Department posts, adding that Erdogan’s comments violate United Nations Security Council resolutions. 

“It has played, in my view, a nefarious role in a variety of things in the region and unless we take an assertive role and push back, we are going to find ourselves with a significant challenge,” Menendez said

  Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), co-chair and co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, today commemorated 47 years since Turkey illegally invaded Cyprus. 

“Forty-seven years ago, Greek Cypriots were forced from their homes, and religious and cultural sites were damaged and destroyed during the illegal Turkish invasion. Nearly five decades later, many still have not been able to return home.  

 
“More than 40,000 soldiers remain on the island, an unacceptable occupation that has oppressed the Cypriot people since 1974. As we continue working toward a stable and reunified Cyprus, I am deeply disturbed by Turkey’s unilateral reopening of Varosha beach in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. 

“A Cyprus in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can live together in peace, security, and prosperity benefits the United States, the entire Eastern Mediterranean, and most of all Cypriots themselves, who deserve to live free from any Turkish military oppression.”