[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 108 (Tuesday, August 4, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           U.S. CONTINUES TO IGNORE PLIGHT OF KURDISH PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Furse) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 2 minutes.
  Ms. FURSE. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of 40 million people 
who have an identity, but do not have a country. The Kurdish people. 
Their land continues to be a setting for war and destruction that has 
lasted for decades.
  The Kurds are a persecuted minority. It is a crime in Turkey to talk 
about Kurds or Kurdish issues. One cannot fly a Kurdish flag or even 
address another by his Kurdish name.
  Madam Speaker, I am outraged wherever violations of human rights 
occur, but I am particularly enraged and distressed that our country 
continues to ignore the Kurdish people and their plight. For years, the 
U.S. has neglected reports and testimony from the Kurdish people about 
the human rights violations. Madam Speaker, our government must engage 
in and develop a Kurdish policy. We cannot continue to stand by as 
millions of their people suffer.
  Now, Turkey is an important partner of the United States. It is a 
NATO member, gets huge amounts of money from us, but its abuses of the 
Kurdish people are unacceptable.
  I would like to draw my colleagues' attention to Leyla Zana, who is 
an elected member of the Turkish Parliament. She is the first Kurdish 
woman to ever be elected. She is also a nominee for the Nobel Peace 
Prize. But Leyla Zana was arrested and severely tortured by the Turkish 
police in 1988. What was her crime? She engaged in peaceful 
demonstrations on behalf of prisoners who were also being tortured, and 
for respect for human dignity and the universal declaration of human 
rights, Leyla Zana, a parliamentarian, is currently serving a 15-year 
sentence with 4 other Kurdish members of the Turkish Parliament.
  Leyla Zana writes, and I quote, that she is determined ``to continue 
by peaceful means the struggle for peace between Kurds and Turkey, for 
democracy and for respect for human rights.'' She goes on to say, 
``These are the universal values which must unite us.''
  As elected officials here in the United States, we must speak out 
against abuses and develop a Kurdish U.S. policy.

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