Menendez not only took the request seriously, but a little while later he managed to cross the Green Line of division between the free and the occupied Cyprus and took Zambas to his home – inhabited by Turks – in what became perhaps the first case of a refugee going back to his birthplace after the brutal Turkish invasion of 1974.”

Menendez went on to visit the island repeatedly, and has even brought his children Alicia and Robert along to learn the plight of the Greek Cypriots firsthand. He has also demonstrated his zeal for the Cypriot cause in Congress, repeatedly calling for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island and sponsoring a resolution with Maine Senator Olympia Snowe. “Let me be clear,” he said, “there is no justification for the 43,000 Turkish troops to be in Cyprus. Millions of people have been crossing the buffer zone without incident for years. There are no military attacks and there is no need for military protection of Turkish Cypriots. In the end, these troops only serve to create military tension.”

His advocacy of the rights of the Greek Cypriots has drawn the notice of other notable human rights defenders: “Senator Menendez, as a human rights advocate I want to applaud you once again for your courage and commitment to human rights, the ethnic, and religious problems and above all your commitment to the real change in our foreign Policy,” past president of CFA and PSEKA Harry Theofanus praised him.

Nick Larigakis of the American Hellenic Institute calls the senator a “man of great integrity and moral values. His actions as an esteemed member of the U.S. Senate are consistent with his obligation to support and defend the constitution of the United States and his constituents. And as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he never acts in way that might compromise the interests or jeopardize the security of the United States.“

Most remarkable in the whole tragedy of Cyprus for the past thirty-five years is how the country has not only survived, but won adherents around the world, and has flourished economically. Despite its plight and the battles it has to wage every day to retain its international standing and find justice for the injustice of its partition, Greek Cypriots have seen to it that Cyprus retain its traditional role as a mecca for business, commerce and culture and one of the most visited spots on the globe.

And in America, activists like Peter Papanicolaou , George Sofocleous and Nicos Pafitis of the Cyprus Federation, and the stalwart Philip Christopher of PSEKA (with the help of crusading public officials like Menendez) have never forgotten their roots and have kept alive the cause for half a lifetime and deserve to be among the leading authors of this truly-astonishing Cyprus success story.

Dimitri C. Michalakis