[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 158 (Monday, November 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        FREE LEYLA ZANA, KUDISH PARLIAMENTARIAN JAILED IN TURKEY

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                        HON. JOHN EDWARD PORTER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Sunday, November 9, 1997

  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to express my 
profound outrage at the treatment of an elected official in Turkey. 
Leyla Zana--a Kurdish parliamentarian, duly elected by the people of 
her district--has been arrested and jailed in turkey for the crime of 
expressing her political opinions and beliefs. To be precise, Ms. Zana 
had the temerity to express her views at a meeting of the Commission on 
Security and Cooperation, here in Washington. Her prosecution is a 
crime against democracy and a crime against freedom. For nearly 3 
weeks, a group of Kurds and Americans have been fasting in front of the 
Capitol in silent protest of Leyla Zana's incarceration. One of these 
individuals was forced to end his vigil yesterday because his health 
was threatened.
  Last week, over 150 of my colleagues and I sent a letter to President 
Clinton asking him to demand Leyla Zana's freedom. I regret to say, 
however, that I do not have high hopes that our Government will take 
her case seriously. Our administration--like those before it--has 
maintained a policy of ignoring outrageous Turkish human rights abuses, 
and papering over the fault lines in Turkish democracy.
  For the past week, many of my colleagues and I have taken to the 
floor to express our genuine outrage at the human rights abuses in 
China. The litany of human rights abuses that we heard about is, 
unfortunately, what we have come to expect from countries like China. 
What we should not expect or tolerate is for a country like Turkey--
ostensibly a western, European, democratic country--to have the same 
type of human rights problems. Yet Leyla Zana's case demonstrates that 
freedom of expression, freedom of thought and political dissidence are 
nearly as dangerous in Turkey as they are in China today. Turkey is our 
close ally, a partner in NATO and the European theater. How can we 
criticize China, but expect so little from Turkey? This hypocrisy must 
end.
  It is even more shameful that Turkey's harassment of the Kurdish 
people does not end at its own borders. In the past 3 weeks, Turkey has 
openly waged an indiscriminate attack on Kurdish villages in Northern 
Iraq. Turkey has said that they are merely pursuing the PKK into 
Northern Iraq, but the facts bear out a different story. The use of 
napalm and cluster bombs against civilians in Northern Iraq is 
irrefutable evidence that turkey does not care who it hurts in its 
mindless military effort to eradicate the Kurds. I am ashamed to say 
that our Government--the same government that marshaled the entire 
international community when these same Kurds were attacked by Saddam 
Hussein--has done nothing to criticize this lawless behavior on the 
part of our ally Turkey. Instead we have allowed Turkey to willfully 
disrupt our own efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between the 
Kurdish groups in Northern Iraq.
  The United States has a moral responsibility to speak out against 
such behavior whether it comes from China or Turkey. I hope that my 
colleagues will join me in expressing their outrage at Turkey's 
outrageous actions at home and beyond its borders, and our own 
administration's ``see no evil'' policies.

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