Preserving the Cultural, Archaelogical, and Religious Heritage of Cyprus

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the State Department and welcome to the Treaty Room. I want to encourage all of you to come right this way, right this way. Please, if you can fill in, because the press can be right there, but we want to make sure that Ambassador Ken Brill and Ambassador Mike Klosson can see and Ambassador Don Bandler come right this way. Okay, Don, you can come right over here, yeah.

(Speaking in Greek) It's a great pleasure for me as Under Secretary to welcome such a distinguished audience and I want to thank Ambassador Kakouris and Mrs. Kakouris for being here today. It's an auspicious day because we're welcoming back to the State Department three outstanding American Ambassadors to Cyprus: Ambassador Don Bandler, Ambassador Michael Klosson and Ambassador Ken Brill here. All of them are friends. All of them serve with great distinction in Nicosia. All of them are friends to the Cypriot American and Greek American communities that are here today, so I want to welcome them. I know the Ambassador will as well.

I also want to welcome many of the leaders of the Cypriot American community and the Greek American community who are here today. I don’t need to introduce to you people like Phil Christopher and Andrew Athens and Andrew Manatos. And I thought, Nick that Eugene Rossides would be here and -- he's hiding, there he is. He's hiding -- Eugene Rossides and Nick Laragakis. And I think -- I hope Gus James is here. And if he's not, welcome to all the rest of you who've come here to be with us at the State Department. I also want to thank Miller Crouch from the Department of State who was instrumental with his staff in putting together the agreement that the Ambassador and I have already signed and will exchange today.

Matt Bryza's here. He's our Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe responsible for Cyprus. He's active. I think everybody in Cyprus probably knows him personally by now. He's a great diplomat, so Matt, I want to thank you very much for being here. And I think you see we have a few of the photos of the Heritage sites in Cyprus that are being protected by UNESCO. One of them from a great Byzantine Church, Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis who by the way was a great patron saint -- of all those who came after him. (Laughter.)

The reason we're here today, ladies and gentlemen, and I want thank you all for being here, is because Cyprus and the United States have a joint mission. Well, let me put it another way, the United States has an obligation to help a friend preserve its cultural and archeological and religious heritage. And the Ambassador and I have signed an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding which will help Cyprus to battle those who would plunder its heritage and seek to sell that heritage illegally in the United States and in other countries of the world.

We have only 11 agreements of this kind with countries around the world and that with Cyprus is exceedingly important. And our aim is to be a good friend because of the 150 [documented] archeological sites in Cyprus, about 25 percent of them have been funded or are being run with the help of American institutions and that's gone on for a long time. And as Ambassador Mallias knows and I want to welcome the Ambassador here today-- it's also true in Greece where for the better part of the last century, there has been a joint mission between American universities and archeological institutes in Greece, as well as in Cyprus. And so we think it's our responsibility, Mr. Ambassador, to help you preserve this incredible heritage that the Cypriot people enjoy and must protect.

Texts from the period that we're trying to protect are very, very rare. And so we have to depend on artifacts, roughly from the eighth -- from the 8th century, B.C., to about the time of 330 A.D. And of course, the heritage that has been plundered most significantly is that of coins. And so we hope, Mr. Ambassador, that by signing this agreement with you, by putting the full force of the American Government and of our legal system behind you and your government, we can help your people to preserve these precious artifacts.

I wanted to have this ceremony today and I wanted to invite the leadership of our community as well as the press because we're deeply grateful for the friendship of Cyprus. About a year ago, there was a terrible war in Lebanon and 15,000 Americans found themselves caught up in that war -- an extraordinary number of people. And we, with the help of the Lebanese Government and the Cypriot Government successfully evacuated 15,000 people from Beirut to the suburbs of Beirut and from southern Lebanon. We could not have done that without the Government of Cyprus because nearly all of them went through Cyprus on their way back home or to other parts of the world. And the Government of Cyprus opened up its doors to Americans. They gave us every assistance that we requested during that very stressful time. And we still remember, Mr. Ambassador, the goodwill that the Government gave us and that you gave us. And so I want to thank you for that.

I'm also mindful that any relationship between countries stands not just on what we in government do, but what we do as private societies together. I've told the Ambassador many times that when I began in Greece, I felt that when I began in Greece, I was convinced that what our two governments would do together was the epicenter of their relationship. But by the time I left four years later, I knew that what private Americans and Greeks do together in university ties, academic ties, fraternal ties that are so rich between us and economic ties exceed the efforts of what we can do in government. The same is true in Cyprus. And the fact that we have such an outstanding leadership here of Cypriot Americans representing the United States in this relationship, the fact that we hear so often from them and of course, always heed their advice! (inaudible) The true strength of this relationship lays in our entire relationship in the communities of the two countries. And so I wanted to thank Phil and the rest of the Cypriot American leaders who are here today.

Cyprus, of course, is also a partner in our war to keep -- in our efforts to keep the world peaceful and stable. Cyprus was the very first member of the European Union that signed a bilateral ship boarding agreement under our Proliferation Security Initiative, which has become our flagship operation to try to help prevent the spread of terrorism in the world.

And I didn't want to conclude these remarks without saying that when I met with the Greek and Cypriot American leadership just recently here in the State Department, I did reaffirm to them our support for a solution to the crisis that still remains on the island. The fact that it is divided, the fact that there is no full and permanent and just peace and the fact that my three colleagues who'd been ambassador in there spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the United States always represented that effort for a just and lasting settlement.

I gave the pledge to the leadership -- and Mr. Ambassador, you were there -- that my government will support efforts by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to restart the peace negotiations and to restart the process to try to arrive at a just and lasting settlement and we will do that in concert with you because, of course, we recognize one government on Cyprus and that's the government that the ambassador represents. So I wanted just to say those few words today to welcome all of you here. We're very pleased to have this agreement to bind us together again, Ambassador, and I would invite you just to say a few words.

AMBASSADOR KAKOURIS: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Under Secretary Burns for your warm words of welcome. And also allow me to thank you and your colleagues for the courtesy of arranging today's ceremony. It's a wonderful occasion. And let me also welcome and express my appreciation to all present for taking time to be with us at this important event this afternoon. Under Secretary, Ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, it's a distinct pleasure and honor to represent Cyprus at this ceremony in exchange of diplomatic notes, marking the renewal of the Memorandum of understanding between Cyprus and the United States to protect the rich, archeological and ethnological heritage of Cyprus.

On July 16, 2002, then Ambassador Marcoullis, now Foreign Minister Marcoullis, signed on behalf of the Cyprus Government the initial Memorandum of understanding to protect pre-classical and classical archeological material from Cyprus. This agreement was amended last August to include Byzantine period ecclesiastical and ritual ethnological material and today coins, archeological material in the metal category, vulnerable to pillage, covering the period from the end of the 6th century B.C. to 235 A.D. have been added to the list of restricted items. Consequently, import restrictions are now in effect for these items as well.

I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the Government of the United States for responding favorably to our request for the extension of the Memorandum of understanding, for a further five years and for the important recognitions that coins constitute an inseparable part of our cultural heritage and that the pillage they are subjected to is the same as other archeological artifacts.

In fact, I was reminded just before we came in about something that I had said in January when we were before the Committee and responding to someone very much on the side of the coin collectors who -- talked about the hobby of collecting coins. And I said to him: "It may be your hobby, but it's our heritage!" and that is the way that we look at this issue.

Cyprus cultural heritage is one of the oldest and richest and most unique in the world, dating back 10,000 years, with a plethora of influences. To quote the author Klaus Gallas: Where else can you visit almost 10,000 years of history, by simply walking through them? Where else can you find Phoenician architecture, Roman mosaics, Greek temples and gothic Cathedrals on one and the same island? This is Cyprus and this is the rich and diverse cultural heritage that the extension of the MOU seeks to protect.

In my remarks before the Cultural Property Advisory Committee this January, we stated that my government's approach to the protection of Cyprus cultural heritage is one of an island-wide approach. As such Cyprus is one of the most diligent countries in actively pursuing the return of its plundered cultural heritage. We therefore considered this Memorandum of Understanding as an invaluable tool mechanism which has significantly contributed to the protection and preservation of Cyprus' religious and cultural heritage. It is, as you will know, especially important since the Government of Cyprus is unable to prevent looting and illegal export of artifacts from the occupied part of Cyprus since the Turkish invasion nearly 33 years ago to the day.

Today's event and the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding, I think is a further important example of the cooperation between Cyprus and the United States in a variety of areas and activities. And I'm very grateful for the comments that you made with regards to the assistance given to the 15,000 U.S. citizens arriving in Cyprus from Lebanon. It was our moral obligation to help anybody and everybody that needed assistance at that time. It reflects also I think our shared values and principles. And as Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus to the U.S., I'm honored to be a participant in today's ceremony which furthers these close bilateral relations.

There are many people both in the United States and Cyprus, too many to mention by name, who deserve to be recognized for their commitment to making today a reality and to whom we're indeed grateful. I would, however like to thank you Under Secretary and your colleagues at the Bureau of European Affairs and in particular the Office of Southern European Affairs as well as the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia. A special thanks and appreciation go to all those involved in the Bureau for Cultural and Educational Affairs for their professionalism and dedication.

And I will take this opportunity to formally recognize my own colleagues at the Embassy as well as those in various government departments in Nicosia, the Church of Cyprus, and private individuals and organizations in Cyprus and the U.S. who contributed greatly to the renewal of this MOU.

In ending, allow me to quote Foreign Minister Marcoullis when she signed the memorandum of understanding on July 16th, 2002, which hopefully summarized my own sentiments. She said, "Today is a day we can all feel proud of because we can say with all modesty that we have played our small part in protecting a unique cultural heritage that has lasted for 10,000 years. And we have a responsibility to see it survive for centuries to come for the benefit of all mankind."

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Ambassador, let me thank you for your words, very eloquent indeed, and thank you for the friendship that you've shown to so many of us since you became Ambassador here. And Mrs. Kakouris, thank you very much for what you're doing, I know as an unpaid volunteer for the Cypriot Government here in Washington. That's how my wife used to describe herself when we were in Greece.

Can I just say that I think it would be appropriate if we did some photographs. I'd like to call my fellow colleagues, American Ambassadors up -- Don Bandler and Mike Klosson and Ken Brill. They deserve a lot of credit for the strength of our relationship with Cyprus, and I ask them to come up here. And if they want to say a word, I would be very happy to have them say a few words and have a photograph with us and then I'd like to ask some of the leaders to come up as well.

Don, Michael, Ken.

Ladies and gentlemen, one more note. Can I just have your attention, please? I was remiss, I didn't see another American Ambassador in the room. It's always a hazard, in the State Department in these corridors if you yell out ambassador about 100 people turn around. But Ambassador Clay Constantinou was our American Ambassador to Luxembourg and he and I worked together very closely. He's also a great example of the success of our Cypriot American community and he's someone who came here and really made a great success for himself in this community and then represented our government for many years and is now a distinguished academic. So I was remiss in not seeing him and I wanted to say welcome, Ambassador Constantinou.