[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





SENATE RESOLUTION 418--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
 GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY'S CRACKDOWN ON DISSENT RELATED TO ITS INCURSION 
       INTO NORTHEAST SYRIA, AND BROADER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

  Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Kaine, 
Mr. Wyden, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Markey, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Blumenthal) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 418

       Whereas Turkey is a constitutional, secular state with an 
     ethnically, religiously, and culturally diverse population;
       Whereas Turkey has been a modern democracy and a major 
     North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally to the United 
     States;
       Whereas Turkey is a signatory to the International Covenant 
     on Civil and Political Rights and is therefore obligated to 
     uphold the freedom of its people to peacefully express 
     criticism of their government;
       Whereas, immediately following the incursion by the Turkish 
     Armed Forces into northeast Syria on October 9, 2019, the 
     Government of Turkey began a coordinated crackdown on online 
     dissent;
       Whereas, on October 9, 2019, Turkey's National Security 
     Directorate made a statement that criminal investigations had 
     been initiated against 78 people for ``inciting enmity and 
     hatred through black propaganda [smear campaign] against 
     [Turkey] over Operation Peace Spring; sharing unsourced and 
     false social media postings intended to destroy the 
     reputation of [Turkey's] security forces and making 
     propaganda for a terrorist organization'';
       Whereas expression of opposition views through social media 
     posts, social media reposts, and shared online articles has 
     led to the investigation and detention of individuals in the 
     region;
       Whereas the shared content targeted by Turkish authorities 
     was largely authored by Western and United States sources and 
     outlets;
       Whereas Turkey has over 120 journalists and media workers 
     in jail, more than in any other country, with most of them 
     detained under propaganda charges;
       Whereas, on October 10, 2019, the digital services manager 
     of the Birgun daily newspaper was detained in his home in 
     Istanbul and questioned in relation to a news article and a 
     tweet said to have incited enmity or hatred under the Article 
     216/1 of Turkish Penal Code;
       Whereas, on October 11, 2019, Minister of the Interior 
     Suleyman Soylu stated during a speech that 121 people had 
     been detained for their social media posts ``insulting 
     `Operation Peace Spring', describing [our] country as an 
     invader and insulating the unity of our nation'';
       Whereas, on October 14, 2019, military police carried out a 
     countrywide operation with the aim of ``preventing and 
     deterring sympathizers of the terrorist organization from 
     [engaging in provocations related to] Operation Peace 
     Spring'' in which over 500,000 people were interrogated and 
     152 people were detained, according to Amnesty International;
       Whereas, as of October 16, 2019, authorities have 
     identified 839 social media accounts under investigation, and 
     186 individuals taken into police custody since October 9, 
     2019, related to ``shared criminal content'';
       Whereas, on October 19, 2019, police raided several homes 
     of human rights defenders and journalists on counts of 
     ``inciting enmity or hatred'' through social media posts;
       Whereas, on October 25, 2019, criminal complaints were made 
     against the French weekly journal Le Point for its coverage 
     of the military offensive;
       Whereas the style and scale of the social media crackdown 
     specific to Turkish operations in Syria has recent precedent 
     in the aftermath of the Turkish Armed Forces' Operation Olive 
     Branch in Afrin, in which--
       (1) 1,719 social media accounts were investigated;
       (2) 845 people were detained for social media posts; and
       (3) 643 people were subject to judicial proceedings; 
     including 11 physician members of the Turkish Medical 
     Association's Central Council, who were sentenced to terms up 
     to 3 years and three months for calling to an end to the 
     Afrin military operation;
       Whereas Turkish authorities have targeted more than a 
     thousand criminal defense lawyers as part of the ongoing 
     crackdown on dissent;
       Whereas more than 265 academics have been prosecuted in 
     Turkey for signing an appeal for peace between the Government 
     of Turkey and Kurdish insurgents;
       Whereas human rights violations have been a defining aspect 
     of President Erdogan's authoritarian rule, including--
       (1) the removal of at least 88 of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' 
     Democratic Party (HDP) mayors from office in the last three 
     years and their replacement with state-appointed trustees;
       (2) the detention of HDP members of parliament; and
       (3) the detention of Turkish employees of United States 
     diplomatic facilities in Turkey;
       Whereas blanket bans on peaceful protests of any form have 
     been implemented by local governors across Turkey; and
       Whereas these bans have resulted in the arrest and 
     detention of many people and represent clear violations to 
     the right to peaceful assembly as protected by international 
     human rights conventions to which Turkey is a party and by 
     the Constitution of Turkey: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) reaffirms the position of the United States that 
     peaceful dissent should be protected under the right of 
     freedom of expression in Turkey;
       (2) condemns policies and efforts by the Government of 
     Turkey to suppress peaceful protesters, including those 
     expressing dissent against military operations by the Turkish 
     Armed Forces or policies instituted by the Government of 
     Turkey;
       (3) stands with the defenders of free speech and human 
     rights in Turkey;
       (4) encourages senior United States administration 
     officials to raise the issue of suppression of free speech 
     and media in Turkey at the highest levels, both bilaterally 
     and multilaterally;
       (5) encourages United States embassy and consular staff to 
     attend politically motivated trials; and
       (6) calls on the Government of Turkey to--
       (A) immediately lift restrictions on freedom of expression, 
     including expression online or in social media;
       (B) ensure that criticism of the Turkish Armed Forces' 
     military operations or calling for peace--through media, 
     social media, peaceful assembly, or other peaceful means--is 
     not criminalized;
       (C) drop all charges and end prosecution of individuals or 
     groups for peaceful expression of their opposition to 
     Turkey's military operations in Syria;
       (D) ensure that people can gather and protest peacefully, 
     including by lifting blanket protest bans across the country;
       (E) release all political prisoners, including journalists 
     and Turkish employees of United States diplomatic missions; 
     and
       (F) respect the rights of Turkish citizens to elect their 
     leaders through a democratic process.

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