American Hellenic Institute

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Greek American Organizations' Policy Statement on the Aegean Sea Boundary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: ANGELIKI VASSILIOU
March 2, 2004—No.12 (202) 785-8430

GREEK AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS' POLICY STATEMENT ON THE AEGEAN SEA BOUNDARY

WASHINGTON, DC—The American Hellenic Institute founder, Gene Rossides, announced today that the major Greek American membership organizations approved the policy statement on the Aegean Sea Boundary prepared by the American Hellenic Institute. The organizations in addition to the American Hellenic Institute are: the Order of AHEPA, the Hellenic American National Council, the Cyprus Federation of America, the Panepirotic Federation of America, the Pan-Macedonian Association of America and the Evrytanian Association of America. The approved statement on the Aegean Sea Boundary, which is part of the 2004 Greek American Policy Statements follows:

Aegean Sea Boundary

Turkey has made claim to one-half of the Aegean Sea and refuses to take its claim to the International Court of Justice at the Hague for a binding ruling. The U.S. should publicly state that it accepts as final the treaty-defined demarcation of the maritime border between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea. The relevant agreements are the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, the Italy-Turkey Convention of January 4, 1932, the Italy-Turkey Protocol of December 28, 1932 and the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, under which the Dodecanese Islands and adjacent islets were ceded by Italy to Greece.

The U.S. is a signatory to the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty and is obligated by U.S. law to carry out its provisions. The State Department has refused to publicly declare what the law is. It should do so now. The U.S. should also vigorously repudiate any challenge to the treaty-defined boundary and should urge Turkey to submit its claim to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

For the full text of our policy statements click here.

For additional information, please contact Angeliki Vassiliou at (202) 785-8430 or at angeliki@ahiworld.org. For general information on AHI, see our Web site at www.ahiworld.org.

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