Congress adds new irritant in US-Turkey relations with pro-Cyprus push
Bryant Harris
Turkey critics on Capitol Hill could add a new irritant to the strained bilateral relationship with legislation retooling longstanding US policy toward the disputed island of Cyprus.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., joined Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., this week to introduce the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Partnership Act, which would lift the decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus. The bill also authorizes the Donald Trump administration to enter into energy cooperation agreements between Cyprus, Greece and Israel.
“Cyprus is a member of the EU, Greece is a member of the EU,†Menendez told Al-Monitor. “We’re just talking about creating another security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean by countries that share our values and are aligned with us. That should not be a threat to anybody.â€
Read more at: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/04/congress-new-irritant-us-turkey-relations-cyprus-push.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Rubio may not be presidential material to many. That doesn't stop him from being a real asset in foreign policy and here, he is at work again. With Senator Menendez, again, good on international affairs, really bad, domestically and he is bad on that, abortions, gun control, global warming, everything. It almost makes me wonder if a Senator can represent his state and not believe in some of the arguments that say, he puts forth on some issues.
