[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 22, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H377-H378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING HRANT DINK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Turkish 
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. One year ago, Hrant Dink was brutally 
gunned down outside his office in Istanbul, Turkey by a self-proclaimed 
Turkish nationalist. The world lost a great human rights advocate and 
his tragic death was an attack on democratic ideals and values.
  Dink was first charged with treason for upholding an irrefutable 
historical fact about the Armenian Genocide. He was convicted for his 
writings in 2005 for violating article 301, a law that makes it a crime 
to ``insult'' the Turkish state. This law continues today to be used to 
persecute, prosecute, and incarcerate those who attempt to exercise 
their universal human right of freedom of speech.
  Mr. Speaker, Turkey uses intimidation to deny its citizens their 
right to freedom of expression. It lobbies for its so-called rightful 
role in the international community and a place in the European Union. 
Yet it does not live up to democratic principles and standards.
  Hrant Dink is not the only one who has suffered from the consequences 
of this Turkish penal law. Anyone who refers to the events of 1915 for 
what they were, genocide, is targeted within Turkey. In addition, our 
own country is seeing the effects of this denial as Turkey continues to 
oppose human rights legislation condemning the Armenian Genocide here 
in this House.
  Mr. Speaker, I remain deeply concerned with Turkey's failure to adopt 
standards and practices of both domestic and international conduct that 
would reverse and overturn the climate of intolerance, prejudice, and 
repression, as exemplified by article 301 of the Turkish penal code. It 
was this penal code that precipitated Mr. Dink's murder.

[[Page H378]]

  Hrant Dink was guilty of nothing more than having the courage to 
defend freedom of the press and promote human rights and tolerance in 
Turkey. He was a man of conviction and principle who believed in 
democratic ideals and peaceful change. I urge Turkey to honor his name 
and repeal article 301.

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