Ted Deutch

Two US Senators and two members of Congress have urged US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to pressure Turkey into calling off its drilling plans in the eastern Mediterranean.

A cross-party bill submitted to US Congress seeks to link Turkey's activities in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean to sanctions imposed by Washington earlier this week over Ankara's offensive in Syria, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) reported on Thursday.

Not since Turkey's aptly named "Operation Attila" - its 1974 invasion of Cyprus and its Srebrenica-style citizen executions and mass graves - have I seen a more just reaction from Capitol Hill. This time it's a reaction to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's acquisition of Russian S-400 missiles.

Six years ago, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) joined forces in support of the efforts of congressmen Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) as they formed the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance (CHIA) caucus.

US Congressmen Ted Deutch and David Cicilline from the Democrats and Gus M. Bilirakis from the Republicans introduced on Wednesday the bipartisan, bicameral Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019 to highlight and support the growing partnership in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus.

Diplomats, members of Congress, Greek-American and Cypriot-American partners, and leaders of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) gathered at the Greek Ambassador's residence earlier this week to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance (CHIA).

The Greek-American and American Jewish communities have joined forces to promote legislation in the United States that would bolster the security status of Cyprus and block the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, the executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), Endy Zemenides, said in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper.