AHI Meets with State Department Officials

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) met with Kathleen H. Allegrone, director, Office of Southern European Affairs, U.S. Department of State; James P. Merz, deputy director, Office of Southern European Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Senior Greece Desk Officer Christopher Snipes, and Cyprus Desk Officer Lindsay Coffey at the U.S. Department of State on October 12, 2011. Director Allegrone, Deputy Director Merz, and Cyprus Desk Officer Coffey all joined the Office of Southern European Affairs within the past few months.

“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with Director Allegrone and her entire staff,” said AHI President Nick Larigakis, who presented the new staff with AHI’s Policy Statements and a copy of the Cyprus documentary “Cyprus Still Divided: A U.S. Foreign Policy Failure.” “We had a productive meeting about the latest developments in the eastern Mediterranean, including Turkey’s provocative actions and threats to U.S. commercial interests and to the Republic of Cyprus off the southern coast of Cyprus. We look forward to working with them on U.S. policy in the region during what has become a crucial period of time.”

In addition, AHI raised the issues of religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, FYROM name-recognition, and H.R. 2597, the American Owned Property in Occupied Cyprus Claims Act, to the State Department officials.

AHI Board of Directors Secretary Nicholas G. Karambelas and AHI Director of Media Relations and Research Analyst Demetra Atsaloglou accompanied Larigakis.

The American Hellenic Institute is a non-profit Greek American public policy center that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.

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For additional information, please contact Demetra Atsaloglou at (202) 785-8430 or at pr@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at https://www.ahiworld.org.