[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SUPPORT PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN TURKEY: SUPPORT HOUSE CONCURRENT 
                             RESOLUTION 136

                                 ______


                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 31, 1996

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on January 25, 1995, I joined the chairman of 
the Helsinki Commission, Chris Smith, in introducing H. Con. Res. 136, 
legislation which advocates a peaceful end to the conflict between the 
Government of Turkey and Kurdish militants. I urge my colleagues to 
join us as cosponsors of this important resolution aimed at ending a 
vicious cycle of violence and terror which has claimed so many lives 
over the past decade and has eroded the impressive strides made by a 
government committed to achieving full-fledged democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, for more than a decade Turkey's citizens, especially 
those residing in the southeast, have suffered the horrors of terrorism 
and the excesses of a government committed to eradicating terrorism at 
any cost. More than 20,000 people have died in clashes among security 
forces, the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] and shadowy Muslim 
fundamentalist groups. Turkish troops in southeast Turkey have forcibly 
evacuated or destroyed more that 2,650 Kurdish villages, burned crops, 
killed livestock, and displaced more than three million people. 
Citizens are detained, tortured, extrajudicially executed or disappear 
without a trace. The PKK has also killed innocent civilians, mined 
local roads, and set off bombs in populated areas--contributing to the 
cycle of violence and the climate of fear that pervades southeast 
Turkey.
  Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, European newspapers printed color 
pictures of Turkish soldiers posing with the heads of decapitated 
Kurdish guerrillas. These gruesome and despicable photos all too 
graphically underline the hatred and brutality fueling this conflict. 
But even more, the pictures reinforce the urgent need for 
reconciliation. Violence and terrorism will not resolve this conflict. 
Only dialog can help overcome bitterness inspired by 12 years of war. 
House Concurrent Resolution 136 promotes an end to violence and a 
beginning for efforts promoting reconciliation and understanding.
  Mr. Speaker, Chairman Smith and I are sending letters to officials of 
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE] urging 
them to initiate and support steps to resolve the escalating conflict 
in Turkey. We believe the OSCE should establish a million of long-
duration to monitor human rights abuses and help defuse sources of 
conflict and have asked that the OSCE chairman-in-office send a 
personal representative to develop recommendations concerning the 
mandate and scope of future OSCE activities in Turkey. We have also 
asked the president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to designate a 
parliamentary delegation to Turkey to assist in this task. The OSCE has 
played a critical role in conflict prevention, mediation, and human 
rights monitoring in the former Yugoslavia, the Caucasus, the Baltic 
States, and elsewhere. An OSCE presence in Turkey would be especially 
helpful as local non-governmental organizations, international 
humanitarian groups, including the International Committee of the Red 
Cross, and even journalists are not allowed by authorities to operate 
freely in this region.
  Mr. Speaker, Turkey and Israel are the only functional democratic 
states in the Middle East. Turkey is a NATO ally and OSCE member. The 
government's inability to peacefully and democratically resolve the 
Kurdish conflict jeopardizes Turkey's democratic foundations, drains a 
stumbling economy, threatens regional stability, and makes closer 
relations with Europe and the United States problematic. Our Government 
has been instrumental in helping resolve conflicts in the Middle East, 
the Balkans and elsewhere. Mr. Speaker, if we truly value our 
strategic, economic and political partnership with Turkey, and I 
believe we do, we must act now to help end this brutal conflict. It is 
precisely because of that partnership that we seek to assist Turkey in 
ending this conflict.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to review House Concurrent 
Resolution 136. I believe it represents a balanced and thoughtful first 
step that our Government can and should take to promote peaceful 
resolution of a difficult and divisive conflict. I call on all my 
colleagues who value human rights and our partnership with Turkey to 
cosponsor this resolution. We must try to help stop the violence.

                          ____________________