American Hellenic Institute

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In Letter To President-Elect George W. Bush, AHI Urges High Priority For Close U.S. Relations With Greece And Cyprus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: JONATHAN CLARKE
December 15, 2000 No. 60/00 (202) 785-8430

In Letter To President-Elect George W. Bush, AHI Urges High Priority For Close U.S. Relations With Greece And Cyprus

On December 15, 2000, American Hellenic Institute founder Eugene T. Rossides sent a letter of congratulations to President-elect George W. Bush The text reads:

"On behalf of the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) and its affiliated institutions, I am privileged to send you and Mrs. Bush our warmest congratulations on your election as the 43rd President of the United States. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Your administration will inherit many pressing foreign policy challenges. Among the most urgent is American policy in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. At the AHI we strongly believe that U.S. policy in the region should be guided by two fundamental principles: support for the rule of law and adherence to our democratic values. Both these principles advance the best interests of the United States. These are the positions we have consistently advocated to successive administrations and Congress.

As one of the leading membership based organizations in the Greek American community with members throughout the nation, we enjoyed close relations with your father George H. W. Bush, both as president and as vice president. In 1988 then Vice President Bush made the best ever policy statement about Cyprus by a senior American official when he said: "We seek for Cyprus a constitutional democracy based on majority rule, the rule of law, and the protection of minority rights."

We look forward to continuing this dialogue with your administration. We believe that positive developments in Greece and Cyprus, which are both stable and prosperous democracies, set the stage for making progress on regional problems in ways that will directly benefit American interests.

We will send you separately a detailed analysis of issues of concern to the Greek American community. Once your administration takes office, we will seek a meeting with you or your representatives to discuss our policies in greater depth.

Once again, many congratulations on your election victory."

A similar letter was sent to Vice President-elect Richard Cheney