[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 6 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E95]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                CONCERN ABOUT ''THE TURKISH UNDERWORLD``

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                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 4, 1998

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call attention to a growing problem 
in Turkey. Although it is a member of NATO and a democracy, Turkey is 
currently experiencing a growth of government-connected crime. Indeed, 
a recent official report has found that former Prime Minister Tansu 
Ciller's administration conspired with a broad range of criminal 
organizations to eliminate political enemies of the Turkish government 
domestically and abroad. I commend the following editorial, ''The 
Turkish Underworld``, published in the New York Times on January 30, 
1998, to my colleagues for a fuller explanation of this serious 
dilemma.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the article be printed at 
this point in the Congressional Record.

                [From the New York Times, Jan. 30, 1998]

                         The Turkish Underworld

       Turkey's secular leaders like to talk about the subversive 
     activities of Islamic politicians and Kurdish separatists, 
     but the gravest threat to democratic order in Turkey in 
     recent years seems to have come from the secular leadership 
     itself. An official investigation has found that between 1993 
     and 1996 the Government of Prime Minister Tansu Ciller 
     connived with drug gangs, gambling moguls and right-wing hit 
     men to assassinate enemies at home and abroad and sponsor a 
     failed coup attempt in nearby Azerbaijan.
       The current Prime Minister, Mesut Yilmaz, has properly 
     expressed outrage at these abuses and promises further 
     inquiries into possible misconduct during the Ciller era. But 
     the problem was not limited to Ms. Ciller's term, and Mr. 
     Yilmaz must not restrict further inquiries to protect 
     government agencies and officials. His recent declaration 
     that he opposes probing into areas that would ''harm the 
     state`` sounds like a transparent pretext for circumscribing 
     further investigation.
       The initial investigation was spurred by the 1996 crash of 
     a car carrying, among others, a senior police official, a 
     drug smuggler wanted on murder charges and a pro-government 
     Kurdish militia leader. These unlikely companions were 
     traveling together, investigators found, because police and 
     intelligence agencies, under government orders, were 
     contracting with criminal gangs to murder real and imagined 
     political opponents. The targets included Kurdish rebels, 
     suspected Armenian terrorists and those believed to be their 
     financial supporters. The report also found that the Ciller 
     Government had aided a failed plot to overthrow the 
     Azerbaijani President, Heydar Aliyev, in hopes his removal 
     would protect drug smuggling routes through Azerbaijan.
       The investigators looked mainly at the Ciller period, but 
     also found that links between government security agencies, 
     right-wing death squads and criminal gangs went back much 
     earlier, at least to the time of a 1980 military coup that 
     was followed by a period of severe repression. These earlier 
     links should now be explored more closely, including the 
     period in the early 1990's when Mr. Yilmaz previously served 
     as Prime Minister.
       Further investigation is also needed into possible 
     connections between the armed forces and death-squad-style 
     killings in Kurdish areas. The collusion between the 
     Government and the underworld that has now been exposed must 
     be eradicated and never repeated.

     

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