[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 12 (Friday, January 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E145]]
               TURKEY'S ASSAULT ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 20, 1995
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, over the years the Helsinki 
Commission has closely monitored human rights developments to Turkey. I 
have supported Commission efforts and have joined my colleagues in 
speaking out about suppression of free speech, torture, and fundamental 
human rights questions concerning Turkey's Kurdish citizens. As the new 
Chairman of the Commission, I will continue to speak out on these and 
other such developments.
  I rise today to protest the arrest of seven leaders of the Human 
Rights Association of Turkey's Diyarbakir branch. Prosecutors want to 
jail these individuals for no less than 10 years on charges that a 
publication they produced which documented human rights cases 
constitutes ``separatist propaganda.'' One of those detained, 
Neymetullah Gunduz, an attorney and association leader, had met with 
members of a Helsinki Commission delegation last October. Just weeks 
ago, several other human rights leaders were acquitted of similar 
charges. Mr. Speaker, international scrutiny has and should continue to 
focus on these draconian speech restrictions and other human rights 
problems which continue to tarnish Turkey's democratic credentials.
  For years now, Human Rights Association members throughout Turkey, 
but especially in the southeast, have been harassed, gunned down, and 
have had their offices forcibly closed. The Diyarbakir branch was the 
last allowed by authorities to function in the region, and now, it too 
has been silenced. Mr. Speaker, the deteriorating human rights 
situation facing residents of southeast Turkey can only be described in 
terms of fear and violence. The freedoms and liberties of all citizens 
have been stripped in an effort to fight terrorism, and residents are 
victimized by both terrorist and security forces.
  Mr. Speaker, Turkish leaders have expressed dismay at efforts to slow 
Turkey's integration into the European Union, and yet that Government 
has continued to pursue policies contrary to accepted international 
human rights norms. Their protests about congressional conditioning of 
U.S. aid on human rights performance ring equally hollow given the 
flagrant disregard for Turkey's stated human rights commitments, 
including those undertaken with the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon the Government of Turkey to immediately drop 
its case against the seven activists and to release all those political 
prisoners who presently languish in Turkish prisons simply for 
expressing their opinions.


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