[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 144 (Friday, September 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13655-S13656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE STAFF REPORT ON TURKEY

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, during the August recess two members of the 
Foreign Relations Committee minority staff traveled to Turkey at my 
direction to assess a range of issues related to United States-Turkish 
bilateral relations. Turkey, one of the largest recipients of United 
States military assistance, is an important United States ally in a 
dangerous and unstable region. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to 
take a close look at what is occurring in Turkey--the threats to its 
security, its political struggles, and its human rights situation. In 
particular, I asked my staff to focus on Turkey's Kurdish problem, 
which has broad implications for regional stability, as well as 
Turkey's relations with the West.
  Among the staff's findings is that the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] 
poses a grave threat not only to Turkey, but to regional stability as 
well. At the same time, the Government of Turkey is unable--or 
unwilling--to distinguish the genuine threat posed by the PKK from the 
legitimate rights and aspirations of the Kurdish people. Turkey is 
responding with a heavy-handed, indiscriminate military campaign 
against the Kurds, even as it shuts off opportunities for nonviolent, 
Kurdish political expression. Consequently, Turkey may be fomenting, 
rather than preventing Kurdish separatism.
  I believe this report makes an important contribution to the 
Congress' consideration of the United States approach toward Turkey. I 
ask unanimous consent that the ``Summary of Key Findings'' be placed 
into the Record at this point, and would commend the full report, which 
is a available at the Foreign Relations Committee office, to my 
colleagues' attention.
                        Summary of Key Findings

       Turkey, which places a high priority on good relations with 
     the West in general and the United States in particular, is 
     an important U.S. ally in a dangerous and unstable 
     neighborhood: Three of its immediate neighbors--Iran, Iraq, 
     and Syria--are on the U.S. list of state sponsors of 
     terrorism; it is engaged in an economic and political 
     competition with Russia for influence in and access to the 
     resources of Central Asia and the Caucasus; there is ongoing 
     conflict to Turkey's north--in Georgia and between Armenia 
     and Azerbaijan. Turkey is not, however, a disinterested in 
     neutral party, it is openly sympathetic to Azerbaijan's 
     position, and although it has opened an air corridor to 
     Armenia, Turkey maintains a road and rail blockade; it 
     continues to spar with Greece over Cyprus and other issues, 
     in particular, a dispute over maritime boundaries in the wake 
     of Greece's ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty 
     threatens to bring Turkey and Greece into outright conflict.
       The Kirdistan Workers' Party (PKK) poses a grave threat not 
     only to Turkey, but to regional stability as well. The PKK--
     which employs deadly terrorist tactics against innocent 
     noncombatants in Turkey and 

[[Page S 13656]]

     against innocent civilians elsewhere in the Middle East and 
     Europe--bears direct responsibility for much of the tensions 
     in southeast Turkey and for prompting the recent Turkish 
     invasions of Iraq.
       Operation Provide Comfort, the allied humanitarian and 
     security operation in Northern Iraq, is a critical element of 
     U.S. and Western strategies with regard to Iraq, and may be 
     the only thing preventing tens of thousands of Kurds from 
     pouring into southeastern Turkey. Although some Turkish 
     officials recognize these facts and military officials at 
     Incirlik have provided splendid cooperation to their British, 
     French and American counterparts, other Turkish military and 
     political officials (including parliamentarians) argue that 
     Provide Comfort offers the PKK protection and cover in 
     Northern Iraq. This rather schizophrenic view of Provide 
     Comfort makes Turkey appear a relucant participant in the 
     allied effort, which Turkey has exploited to its advantage in 
     dealings with its allies.
       In keeping with traditions established during the days of 
     Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, Turkey has an almost paranoid fear of 
     losing its Turkish identity. The government of Turkey 
     accordingly is unable--or unwilling--to distinguish the 
     genuine threat posed by the PKK from the legitimate rights 
     and aspirations of the Kurdish people. As a result, Turkey 
     refuses to engage in a political dialogue with nonviolent 
     Kurdish representatives, and is executing a heavy-handed, 
     indiscriminate military campaign to eradicate what it views 
     as a monolithic threat to the unity of the country.
       The city of Diyarbakir, which symbolizes the ethnic 
     difficulties that persist within Turkey, has become a haven 
     for rural Kurds forced to evacuate neighboring towns and 
     villages destroyed by the Turkish military. By some 
     estimates, the city's population has grown from roughly 
     300,000 to more than 1,500,000 during the past five years. 
     Although Turkish officials, local residents, and some 
     independent observers suggest that tensions have subsided 
     during the past two years, it is evident that any existing 
     calm is tenuous and the result of Turkey's overwhelming--and 
     at times oppressive--security presence, which has exacted a 
     high cost in terms of human rights violations.
       Turkey's government refuses even to acknowledge that there 
     is a ``Kurdish problem,'' and thereby is ignoring the real 
     issue. By equating all Kurdish aspirations with the terrorist 
     designs of the PKK, Turkey effectively has eliminated outlets 
     for nonviolent Kurdish political or cultural expression. As a 
     consequence, Turkey unintentionally may be contributing to 
     the PKK's appeal.
       Turkey desperately wants to join the European Union's 
     Customs Union, and is making some effort to meet the European 
     Parliament's minimum demands regarding democratization and 
     human rights in order to achieve membership. It may even make 
     some modifications to Article 8 of the Anti-Terror law (which 
     prohibits the advocacy of separatism). Turkey will not, 
     however, take any action which it perceive as comprising the 
     Turkish identity, so there are limits to the amount of 
     genuine change it will make to gain membership in the Customs 
     Union. It is equally unclear that the West would have much 
     impact on Turkish behavior by withholding benefits such as 
     Customs Union membership.
       Despite claims that it regards fundamentalism as a threat 
     to its secular heritage, the government of Turkey appears to 
     be encouraging and even sponsoring Islamic activities in an 
     attempt to bind the country together and defuse separaist 
     sentiment. Such a strategy--which parallels efforts of 
     governments in the Near East seeking to counter radical 
     lefist groups during the 1970s and early 1980s--could 
     backfire and inadvertently provide a foothold for Islamic 
     extremists.
     

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