Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte Meets with AHI Leadership

WASHINGTON, DC – On September 4, 2008, key members of the American Hellenic Institute’s (AHI) leadership met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte at his office at the State Department. The one-hour meeting, which was attended by AHI President and founder Gene Rossides, General Counsel Nicholas G. Karambelas, and Executive Director Nick Larigakis, covered all issues within AHI’s policy agenda, with a major focus on the ongoing Cyprus question.

The AHI leadership specifically urged:

1. the immediate removal of all Turkish troops from Cyprus;
2. the prompt return to Turkey of the over 160,000 illegal Turkish settlers in Cyprus;
3. the Turkish government’s safeguarding the Ecumenical Patriarchate, its personnel and property, reopening the Halki Patriarchal School of Theology, and returning church properties illegally seized;
4. support for Greece on the FYROM name issue;
5. the recognition of the maritime boundary in the Aegean Sea as established by treaties including the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty of which the U.S. is a signatory; and for support to stop the violations by Turkey against Greece’s territorial integrity in the Aegean and Greek airspace.

In his capacity as Deputy Secretary of State, Negroponte is the number two ranking official in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy and functions as the chief operating officer of the Department. He coordinates and supervises U.S. government activities overseas, represents the Department’s position before Congress, and manages key foreign policy issues on the Secretary of State’s behalf.

“We appreciated very much the opportunity to meet with Secretary Negroponte and the time that he allotted to us. At the meeting we presented AHI’s Greek American Policy Statements and pointed out that they are endorsed by all of the major membership organizations.  We stressed that the issues which we advocate are in the best interests of the U.S. and of paramount importance to the Greek American community,” stated Mr. Rossides.

Please see the photograph from AHI’s meeting with Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte below.

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For additional information, please contact AHI at (202) 785-8430 or [email protected]. For general information regarding the activities of AHI, please view our Web site athttps://www.ahiworld.org.