The panelists for the aforementioned panel included Maria Olson, director, Office of Southern European Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Cato Institute Senior Fellow Doug Bandow, John Gizzi, Chief Political Columnist and White House Correspondent, Newsmax, and Senior Policy Adviser and Legal Counsel to U.S. Rep. Chris Smith Piero Tozzi.  Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief, The Washington Monthly, moderated the panel discussion, which was followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Having a multi-faceted panel with perspective from the State Department, the Congress, media, and think-tanks, is important, as DC is a complex eco-system in which the various policy centers and thinkers influence each other and work together. Though each panelist brought a different perspective, many of the panelists agreed that Turkey is not a true ally of the United States and that the U.S. should view Cyprus, Greece, and Israel as viable alternatives to Turkey whom can serve U.S. interests in the region. In addition, AHI held a panel in Athens, with the exact same title, on December 5, 2019. The panelists included: U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, Alternate Minister of Migration from the Ministry of Citizen Protection, George Koumoutsakos, Cato Institute Senior Fellow, Doug Bandow, and Institute of International Relations Executive Director, Dr. Constantinos Filis.  Fanis Papathanasiou, anchor and diplomatic correspondent, ERT, moderated the panel discussion, which was followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The sentiments expressed during this panel discussion were similar to that of the one in Washington, DC.

The panel discussion was a broad conversation on the geo-strategic importance of the Eastern Mediterranean for the United States, and thus was not strictly tied to the East Med Act, though the Act was discussed during the panel. As for the East Med Act, we applaud the fact that Congress now views, as it should, the Eastern Mediterranean as an area of geo-strategic importance for the United States, and Greece, Cyprus, and Israel as natural, value-oriented allies that truly serve U.S. interests, unlike Turkey. We need to build upon this momentum, and continue to strive to advocate for further legislation that strengthens U.S-Greece and U.S.-Cyprus relations.

The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), played a leading role in advocating for the legislation. AHEPA also, under the leadership of Supreme President George Horiates, played an important role, leveraging the grassroots network that AHEPA has to mobilize support for this Act.  AHI sent out an action alert supporting the East Med Act early on, when the legislation was in its original format, before being altered by amendments. That being said, the AHI, generally speaking, is active in educating members of Congress on the geo-political surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean. When meeting policy-makers, we advocate for strengthening U.S-Greece, U.S-Cyprus relations. Just in the past six months, we had approximately 100 meetings with Congressional office and leaders in the policy community in 2019. AHI’s core mission is strengthening U.S.-Greece, U.S.-Cyprus relations, and advocating for a U.S. foreign policy guided by the rule of law in the interests of the United States, as it applies to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Congress has very much lost its appetite for Turkey. Even the one of the co—chairs of the Turkish Caucus in the House voted for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. So one could argue that Erdogan is one of our best ‘lobbyists.’ Turkish provocations and increased belligerence by Erdogan have absolutely played a hand in changing the mindset, if not that of the administration, at least that of the Congress, regarding U.S.-Turkey relations. It is imperative to recall that the current backlash to Turkey in Congress began with the detainment of Pastor Brunson and Turkey’s purchase of Russian s-400 missile systems, with the ultimate culmination in Turkey’s invasion of Northeast Syria. That being said, the Congress still needs to take further actions as to addressing Turkey’s violations of Cyprus’ EEZ and illegal activities on a daily basis which infringe upon Greek sovereignty. Congress also needs to call out Turkey for its illegal, void, and fallacious MOU, created in conjunction with certain political factions in Libya.

During the past six years, the American Hellenic Institute, along with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, B’nai B’rith, and AHEPA, all U.S-based organizations, have visited with the leadership of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, to promote the growing trilateral alliance between these three countries. This has been our fourth biennial trip. We take heart that Secretary of State Pompeo, for example, took part in a meeting between Prime Minister Tsipras, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and President Anastasiades, in the Spring of 2019, and endorsed the partnership between the countries, thus creating the “3+1.”

These biennial trips offer the opportunity to facilitate the tri-partite relationship, and to also be educated about it at the highest levels, thus giving us the proper knowledge with which to educate our policy-makers upon our return.

We are at an extremely important junction point. To put it simply, the ‘stars have aligned,’ and now is a good time to push through our policy priorities. Due to the energy and security alliance that is forming between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, the United States views the Eastern Mediterranean as an area of high strategic imperative. As such, U.S.-Greece and U.S.-Cyprus relations continue to be strengthened.

However, despite this progress, it is important to mention that Cyprus still remains occupied by Turkey forty-five years after the invasion. Turkey continuously violates Greek sovereignty, especially with illegal overflights. In addition, Turkey stifles the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the religious leader of over 300 million Orthodox Christians.

As a community, we need to engage in constant outreach to our political leaders and the various policy centers of the U.S. government. Moreover, it is also important to be constantly making ‘new friends’ in Congress. While we need to keep strong relations with longtime allies of the community, such as Senator Menendez, Congressman Bilirakis, Congressman Sarbanes, and others, we need to also bring in new allies.