[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 74 (Thursday, May 20, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ON THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF 
                               KURDISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about democracy, a 
form of government which was invented in the 5th century B.C. by the 
Greeks in Athens, great city of Athens. The British honor democracy 
through their parliament, the Japanese have their Diet, the Duma serves 
the Russians, and of course here in the United States democracy is 
exercised right here on the floor of Congress. Democracy still remains 
the best hope for troubled humanity throughout the world.
  With the end of the Cold War, Madam Speaker, we have seen a great 
expansion of the boundaries of democracy. The world is a better place 
today because many former Soviet republics now enjoy self determination 
and are given their rightful seats in the Hall of Nations. But 
auspicious as has been the forward march of liberty, the world remains 
far from being free. Nations remain in captivity. The color of one's 
skin still bars some from feeling our common humanity. But the hope 
that we can rise to the challenge of total equality is enduring. People 
of goodwill are risking their lives against great odds. They know the 
rewards are worth the risks.
  Madam Speaker, on May 24, 1999, just a few days from now, a nation 
whose voice has been silenced for too long will convene its first 
congress, unfortunately not in its own land but in Brussels, Belgium, 
and 150 delegates from around the world representing the Kurdish people 
of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and the former Soviet republics will 
assemble for the purpose of raising their voice for their brothers and 
sisters who are denied a voice in Kurdistan. I salute the birth of this 
congress that represents a people as old as the dawn of history.
  Madam Speaker, the Kurds are natives of the Middle East who inhabit a 
mountainous region as large as the State of Texas. They speak Kurdish, 
which is distinct from Turkish and Arabic but is closely linked with 
Persian. Having survived in mountain strongholds and ancient empires, 
they are now persecuted, denied their identity and forced to become 
Turks or Arabs or Persian by the states that were born in the early 
20th century. Thirty million strong, they are viewed as beasts of 
burden or as cannon fodder, but never as Kurds who should enjoy human 
rights that we take for granted in this country.

  It is a crime to be a Kurd in Turkey, Madam Speaker. Saddam Hussein 
has used chemical and biological weapons against them in Iraq. The 
theocracy in Tehran often machine guns the Kurdish dissidents in the 
city squares. The poignancy of the Kurdish situation hits closer to 
home when we realize that our own government is sometimes involved in 
their misery. Turkey boosts of American F-16 fighter planes, Sikorsky 
attack helicopters and M-60 battle tanks. Saddam Hussein, according to 
some declassified U.N. documents, had the support of 24 European 
companies to produce his deadly chemical fumes and biological fumes. 
Tehran's opposition to the Kurds has gone beyond Iran with the 
assassination of Kurdish leaders in Vienna and Berlin.
  We all revere the words of Thomas Jefferson when he wrote in the 
Declaration of Independence: ``When in the course of human events, it 
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which 
have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the 
earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of 
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind 
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
separation.''
  Madam Speaker, given the lot of the Kurds, it is more than 
understandable that they set up their own Congress and take charge of 
their own destiny. They have the people, the resources and the 
political understanding to succeed in their dream of statehood.
  Madam Speaker, I need also at this time to address the situation of 
Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish leader who, according to a recent New York 
Times article, was handed over to the Turks with the help of our 
intelligence services. As you may recall, he had ventured to Europe 
from his home base in the Middle East to seek a political solution to 
the enduring Kurdish struggle for basic human rights. I spoke on this 
floor welcoming his declaration of cease-fire and hoped, it now seems 
against hope, to see the debate on the Kurdish question change from war 
to peace and from confrontation to dialogue.
  Mr. Ocalan, denied a refuge in Rome, was promised the safe passage 
through Greece to the Hague where he intended to sue the Government of 
Turkey at the International Court of Justice for its crimes against the 
Kurds. But the laws of granting asylum to political figures, as old as 
the time of prophets, were suspended in this case. Abdullah Ocalan, the 
most popular Kurdish figure of the day, was arrested. Through a deal 
that smacks of political venality at its worst, he was handed over to 
the Turks and now awaits his most likely execution as the sole inmate 
in the Imrali Island prison in the Sea of Marmara.
  Madam Speaker, it is unbecoming of this great power to aid and abet 
dictatorships which are merely disguised as democracies. Those who 
imprison duly elected representatives such as Layla Zana in Turkey for 
testifying before a standing committee of this Congress cannot and 
should not enjoy our support. Leaders such as Abdullah Ocalan, despite 
his violent past, still hold the promise of peace and reconciliation 
for the Kurds with their neighbors. The euphoria that we all felt for 
the freedom of captive nations in the former Soviet Union now must 
extend to our allies and their subjects as well.
  So we welcome the convening of the National Congress of Kurdistan. 
They are dreaming what to many may seem an impossible dream, the dream 
of a united Kurdish people in the Nation of Kurdistan.

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