<span class ="kicker">Armenian Weekly article on Smith's Cyprus hearing</span>'Congressional panel calls out Turkey's aggression and denial'

This press release from Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) was published on 2026-07-09 and titled "<span class ="kicker">Armenian Weekly article on Smith's Cyprus hearing</span>'Congressional panel calls out".

<span class ="kicker">Armenian Weekly article on Smith's Cyprus hearing</span>'Congressional panel calls out Turkey's aggression and denial'

By ANCA Published July 9, 2026 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission convened back-to-back hearings on June 3 and June 30 documenting Turkey’s political imprisonment of dissidents, its denial of the Armenian Genocide, and its continued occupation of areas in the north of Cyprus. Witnesses called on Congress and the administration to expand Global Magnitsky sanctions against Turkish officials, designate Turkey a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations, place Turkey on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist and reject Turkey’s reintegration into the F-35 program along with a ban on its pending purchase of American-made jet engines. “These hearings draw into the bright sunlight the sins that Erdogan spends millions trying to hide in the shadow — the mass jailing of Turkey’s journalists and political opposition, the colonization of occupied Cyprus, and a century of obstructing justice for the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Congress needs to act now — sanctioning responsible Turkish officials, blacklisting the networks bankrolling terror out of occupied Cyprus, and refusing to arm Erdogan with F-35s and jet engines he will surely use against Armenia, Greece, Cyprus and other U.S. allies.” Members of Congress and witnesses testify at Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearings on Turkey. Political prisoners and religious freedom: The case for Magnitsky Sanctions and CPC status At the June 3 hearing, “Can Turkey Find Its Way Back to Freedom?,” Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) reported that Turkey now holds more than 10,000 political prisoners, including journalists, lawyers, elected officials and civil society leaders, jailed under increasingly abusive counterterrorism laws — repression that has deepened over Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 23 years in power, first as prime minister beginning in 2003 and then as president since 2014, atop his Justice and Development Party (AKP). That same repression extends to religious minorities, Michael Rubin testified. The Middle East Forum’s director of policy analysis told the commission that Erdogan and his officials use religious minorities, including Turkey’s dwindling Jewish and Christian communities, as targets of state-tolerated incitement and pointed to the treatment of Armenian and Greek religious sites in Istanbul as part of the same pattern. “Just as Erdogan now seeks a say in Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem,” Rubin testified, “so too should that model now [be] applied to Greek and Armenian sites in Istanbul.” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) details Turkey’s imprisonment of more than 10,000 political prisoners at the June 3 hearing. Michael Rubin testifies on Turkey’s response to U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide at the June 3 hearing. Rubin also cited the Armenian Genocide as proof that Turkey’s threats of retaliation rarely materialize. “We saw this with both the Biden administration’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide and that of all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” Rubin testified. “Those recognitions happened and Turkey didn’t do a damn thing.” Given this record, Smith called for both individual accountability and a formal religious freedom designation. “I believe the Magnitsky sanctions need to be used far more robustly everywhere, not just in Turkey, and religious freedom CPC status ought to be meted out for Turkey,” Smith said. The Global Magnitsky Act allows the United States to freeze the assets of and bar entry to specific foreign officials responsible for human rights abuses or corruption, targeting individuals rather than the country as a whole. Country of Particular Concern, or CPC, status is a State Department designation for governments that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and can trigger sanctions under U.S. law. Cyprus occupation and genocide denial The June 30 hearing, “Human Rights in Occupied Cyprus,” turned to Turkey’s 52-year occupation of the island ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara. Republic of Cyprus Ambassador Evangelos Savva testified that Turkey continues to block access to mass graves holding the remains of Cypriots killed during the 1974 invasion, including at least five American citizens, and refuses to cooperate with the Committee on Missing Persons investigating their fate. “This is a particular stain on Turkey, not allowing people to finally have closure on the fate of their loved ones,” Savva testified. Turkey’s refusal to reckon with the past is not limited to Cyprus, Chairman Smith noted, recalling that a Turkish ambassador once threatened U.S. access to Incirlik Air Base in retaliation for a congressional hearing on the Armenian Genocide. “You like your base in Incirlik? Well, it may be gone if you recognize the genocide committed against the Armenians,” Smith recounted the ambassador saying. “I said, what a weak partner you are in NATO when you threaten o