[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2642-H2643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   ADMIT TURKEY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Whitfield] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, prior to being elected to 
the U.S. Congress, my wife and I visited in the home of Tansu Ciller, 
now the prime minister of Turkey. Turkey has been a strategic ally of 
the United States for many years, particularly in our efforts to 
contain Soviet communism, and of course Turkey was an indispensable 
ally to the United States during the Persian Gulf war.
  Today the country of Turkey is at a crossroads. A Kurdish 
insurrection is raging in the southeast. An Islamic fundamentalist 
movement is spreading throughout Istanbul and Ankara.
  In the Islamic world there are two models of government; one is the 
Khomeni model in Iran, and the other is Turkey, the only country among 
52 Moslem countries that is secular and democratic.
  Turkey's most immediate problem is economic. In 1993, the Turkish 
lira began to engage in a sharp fall. Since then, investment has slowed 
down and inflation has reached an annual rate of 150 percent.
  To help solve these economic problems, it is essential for Turkey's 
long-term stability that it be admitted to the European Union. The 
Clinton administration has acknowledged that they have not paid enough 
attention to this issue, and they are stepping up their activities.
  Today, southern Europe is one of the most volatile areas in the 
world, and it is time for the U.S. Government to step up diplomatic 
activities to assure admittance of our longtime ally, Turkey, into the 
European Union.
  If Turkey is not admitted, it will add fuel to the popular conviction 
that the West is rejecting Turkey out of religious bias.
  Turkey and its people should be granted membership in the European 
[[Page H2643]] Union. I think it is important for that area of the 
world that they be admitted. It will help them economically, and they 
have been a longtime valuable ally of America. I hope that the 
President will follow through on his efforts to step up his diplomatic 
activities in that regard.

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