[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1935-H1938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ASKING FOR SUPPORT FOR ENES KANTER FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Self). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

[[Page H1936]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I have the honor and privilege to stand in 
the House today to highlight the courage of a young man, Enes Kanter 
Freedom, who has dealt with the tyranny of a country that he came from.
  Since becoming an American citizen, he decided to stand for those who 
do not have the voices that we have here.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for being here to share these 
moments with us, and to educate the American people to the fact that 
freedom is something we have to fight for. Not only here, but 
everywhere, there is a voice that is speaking for the things we 
sometimes take for granted.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very, very proud to highlight Enes Kanter Freedom's 
journey. The fight exposes tyranny in Turkiye and China. I encourage 
those who are watching to tune in so we can support and help those that 
are truly voiceless in these other countries.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz).
  Ms. De La CRUZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today before you as a south Texan 
and an American to speak out against the human rights violations being 
committed in Turkiye.

                              {time}  1945

  The Turkish Government, under the leadership of President Erdogan, 
has been suppressing the basic human rights of its citizens for far too 
long.
  As we gather here today, thousands of innocent individuals in Turkiye 
are being unjustly detained, tortured, and subjected to inhumane 
treatment. Turkish authorities have shown no regard for the basic 
rights and freedoms that we take for granted here in our country.
  We have heard reports of journalists being arrested and imprisoned 
simply for speaking out against the government. Teachers, academics, 
and activists have all faced similar fates. There are countless cases 
of people being detained and held without trial or evidence. This is 
not acceptable in any society, let alone one that claims to be a 
democracy.
  However, we are not here just to talk. We are here to demand action 
from President Biden and insist that he put the interests of the 
American people first and take time to listen to Turkish Americans, 
such as professional basketball player Enes Freedom, who has been a 
vocal advocate for human rights in Turkiye.
  Enes has been tirelessly fighting for the rights of the Turkish 
people, and he has even faced persecution for doing so. He was forced 
to give up his passport and feared for his life after being accused of 
being a terrorist for simply speaking out against the government.
  We cannot stand by and watch as innocent people are being subjected 
to such brutality. Our top priority as Members of Congress is to care 
for the American people.
  The Biden administration has an entire State Department that is 
supposed to advance our interests around the world. It is time for the 
Biden administration to do its job.
  We respect the sovereignty of other nations, but the human rights 
violations in Turkiye can no longer be ignored. We are all God's 
children. Let us continue to fight for a world where the human rights 
of all men, women, and children are respected, regardless of where they 
come from.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for her remarks. The 
gentlewoman is a great addition to our Conference.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), 
who is my good friend.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for this opportunity 
tonight, and I thank my good friend, Mr. Owens. He does an outstanding 
job. What a great American he is.
  I thank the gentleman for organizing this very important Special 
Order on the persecution faced by Enes Kanter Freedom by the Erdogan 
regime.
  This issue has personal significance to me, Mr. Speaker, because I 
consider Enes a very close friend. I am proud to call him my friend.
  Enes should be held up and supported by the American Government as 
someone who has used his platform to speak out against human rights 
violations around the world. Instead, Mr. Speaker, as the previous 
speaker said, the Biden administration has been critically silent on 
the Turkish persecution of Enes Kanter Freedom.
  Most recently, Enes had a 10 million Turkish lira bounty--slightly 
more than $500,000--placed on his head by the Erdogan regime.
  This is just the latest of a long line of direct attacks against Enes 
Kanter Freedom by the Turkish Government. It is unacceptable, and we 
must speak out.
  Since 2017, the Erdogan regime has issued at least 10 arrest warrants 
against Kanter Freedom, and he even narrowly avoided arrest on behalf 
of the Turkish Government in Indonesia.
  This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I know for a fact that he hasn't 
seen his family for approximately 10 years because he can't go back to 
his native Turkiye. Now, he is an American citizen and loving it, and 
he is giving so much. He is such a great American.
  What has he done wrong? What crime has he committed? He chose to 
speak out against President Erdogan for his regime's numerous human 
rights violations.
  Enes knew the risks but felt compelled to face the risks to his 
apparent safety and livelihood to be the voice for the voiceless and 
the defenseless.
  What he has given up and what he has sacrificed for those around him, 
his fellow men and women--it is incredible what he has done. He had a 
great career in the NBA, and he sacrificed it to help others, people 
whom he doesn't even know.
  As a matter of fact, he holds these clinics around the world for our 
children, all of God's children here in the United States and around 
the world. What a great individual. Again, I am so proud to call him my 
friend.
  He reaches out to Republicans and Democrats to advocate on behalf of 
these wonderful people. He is a bipartisan guy. I would like to say he 
is a nonpartisan guy. He just wants to do the right thing.
  This is particularly evident, again, in his criticism of China and 
their treatment of the Uyghurs. Again, instead of standing behind Enes, 
a law-abiding American citizen--he is so proud of his country--the 
Biden administration has remained silent after the so-called American 
ally Turkiye placed Enes Kanter Freedom on their most-wanted terrorist 
list.
  Not only has the Biden administration been silent, but it has refused 
to meet with Mr. Freedom regarding the persecution he faces from the 
Turkish Government.
  That is just wrong. It really is, frankly, a failure on behalf of the 
Biden administration's responsibility to protect Americans from foreign 
threats. Through the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, 
President Biden is authorized to impose sanctions on any foreign person 
who is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross 
violations of internationally recognized human rights against any 
individual.
  No action has been taken by this administration, Mr. Speaker, sadly.
  President Biden should lead on this issue instead of allowing Enes 
Kanter Freedom to continue to be persecuted by Turkiye. All we are 
asking for is a meeting of Mr. Freedom and President Biden or any 
member of the State Department, a high-level individual, so he can 
express his concerns.

  The President needs, again, to meet with Mr. Freedom and stand up for 
what is right because that is what Enes does on a daily basis.
  Again, he has been persecuted in Turkiye. He lives in fear, but he is 
a fearless guy. In my opinion, he is a hero.
  I appreciate my good friend, Burgess Owens, who is a great American 
himself. He has done so much for so many people in the State of Utah. 
Again, I am proud to call him my friend. May God bless him.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. 
Cammack), who is my favorite Gator of all time.
  Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from 
the great State of Utah, Mr. Burgess Owens, who also happens to be a 
Floridian by birth.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to add my name to the many of my colleagues 
who are here today to stand in support of our friend, Enes Kanter 
Freedom.

[[Page H1937]]

  Enes has sacrificed his career and put his life on the line to pursue 
the noble and often dangerous path of fighting for human rights around 
the world.
  In a time when it is easy to go with the flow, often at the expense 
of those in lands far away, he has made the decision to stand up and 
speak out.
  As a result of his vocal opposition to the various human rights 
abuses happening around the world today, including the Chinese genocide 
of Muslim Uyghurs or the oppressive and often brutal regime in his 
homeland of Turkiye, he, as a human rights advocate, has had a bounty 
placed on his head of half a million dollars to anyone who will end his 
life to silence him from highlighting the atrocities that few dare to 
expose.
  Inspired by the United States' example of liberty and justice for 
all, Enes became an American citizen--he even changed his last name to 
``Freedom''--and chose to stand up for what is right even at the 
expense that cost him so much.
  Enes embodies the American Dream and has repeatedly displayed the 
courage, grit, and work ethic necessary to change the world. He has 
become a friend not just to me but to several of my friends here in the 
House of Representatives on both sides of the political aisle. However, 
despite his best efforts here in the House of Representatives, his 
calls to meet with White House officials and, more pointedly, President 
Biden have fallen on deaf ears.
  Mr. Speaker, you have to ask yourself: Why? Why would the White House 
refuse to meet with an individual as high profile as Enes Kanter 
Freedom? There is simply no good excuse--at least not one that we can 
discuss here today.
  I thank my colleague from Utah for hosting this Special Order and 
encouraging this administration to step up and meet with Enes to 
discuss the horrific atrocities happening around the world--moreover, 
the atrocities that are occurring against Americans who speak out 
against those who commit these horrific acts.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage those who are watching here today: You can 
be a force for good. You can speak up. You can speak out.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to switch slides here in a minute.
  First of all, I thank my colleagues. It has been a full day, a flying 
day, yet they found the time. Many would have loved to have been here--
but they had other things going on--to speak up for a young man who had 
the courage when many in the NBA league would not. He had the courage 
to stand out. He had the courage to stand up because freedom is 
something that many of us take for granted. He happened to be a young 
man at the age of 20 who stood up against the regime that he saw 
changing.
  Two years ago, he started exposing the atrocities in Communist China, 
a country that is very near and dear to the NBA because that is where 
they get a lot of funding now and where they get a lot of profits now. 
We can see that there are many who are playing the game and becoming 
very, very wealthy and becoming very, very popular and getting a lot of 
fame but not willing to do what Enes Kanter was able and willing to 
do--to give it all--because he believes so much in the idea of freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my grave concerns regarding the 
human rights abuses discussed tonight. Once a thriving democracy, the 
two-decades-long ruthless regime of Erdogan has made Turkiye notorious 
for human rights abuses.
  For over a decade, former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom has used his 
platform to speak for the voiceless who are suffering under the tyranny 
of Turkiye and Communist China.
  Turkiye's oppressive behavior does not end with Enes. Journalists, 
human rights activists, and protesters are jailed. His father was 
jailed because he spoke up here in the United States--unjustly, to say 
the least. Protesters are jailed without trial and labeled 
``terrorists'' without evidence.
  Turkiye is ranked fourth globally for arresting journalists critical 
of the government. Turkiye's President has also weaponized the 
judiciary system to target opposition parties.
  This is not democracy. This is not what a NATO ally should be 
standing for or acting like.

                              {time}  2000

  Two years ago, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkiye 
shut down the second largest political party.
  Women's rights are also under threat in Turkiye, as well. The Turkish 
Government withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, an international 
treaty to tackle gender-based violence.
  In anticipation of a formidable challenge in the upcoming general 
elections in Turkiye, the regime is intimidating rival parties, voters, 
and the press to sway the election results in the government's favor.
  The Biden administration and other NATO allies must condemn these 
heinous actions of the Turkish regime. Unfortunately, once again, 
President Biden is a laggard when it comes to protection of basic human 
rights and freedoms.
  Though an American citizen, Turkiye put a $500,000 bounty on Enes for 
calling out the abuse of power in Turkiye. President Biden, as has been 
noted before, has repeatedly refused to meet with our fellow citizens. 
He has also ignored the official requests from many of my fellow 
Republican colleagues to do so.
  The Biden administration has failed to protect one of the most 
fundamental rights of every American--freedom of speech.
  When Enes criticized the Chinese Communist Party for its brutality 
against its own people, the NBA abruptly ended his career.
  As the corporatist sports complex--NBA, NFL, and Nike--promoted the 
anti-flag, anti-American, BLM, Marxist movement, it was Enes Freedom 
who was speaking about the real human rights abuses being perpetrated 
by the CCP.
  Note here the shoe, ``end slavery.'' No slavery. That is something 
that you did not see on TV, I can promise you that.
  It was his voice that exposed the corporatist sports complex 
hypocrisy as they chose to turn a blind eye to the misery their 
business model had created for the Chinese people. Enes' criticism 
culminated in the CCP's demand that he be canceled. The CCP's 
cancellation of China's NBA TV coverage drove home the consequences of 
not bowing to their demands. Once the NBA acted to terminate the 11-
year all-star's career, the CCP allowed NBA games to once again be 
aired in the Chinese market.
  The NBA, NFL, and Nike's decades-old partnership with the CCP has 
created a culture within the corporatist sports complex that can best 
be summarized as profit over American patriotism and profit over the 
Chinese people.
  It is a culture that has granted credibility to the Communist Chinese 
regime, a regime that has interned over 1 million Muslim Uyghurs.
  It is a culture that promoted BLM rhetoric of America's systemic 
racism as the global corporatists in real time profited in the billions 
from slavery in China. This sports complex has discovered the financial 
benefits of the 1800's slave trade, that when given scale, human 
slavery is the cheapest and most profitable labor on planet Earth.
  The NBA, NFL, and Nike culture of greed profit over patriotism and 
profits over the Chinese people has justified them closing their eyes 
to the genocide of the Muslim Uyghurs. It confirms that child labor, 
human trafficking, and organ harvesting from healthy Muslim Uyghurs is 
okay as long as it is out of sight and out of mind.
  What the voice and action of Enes Freedom did was show the hypocrisy 
of their virtue signaling. As the NBA handed out slogans to players on 
their jerseys to support Black Lives Matter, he was wearing shoes that 
highlighted the real issue of atrocities of slavery in China. Again, 
this is what was not seen on prime time TV.
  On a side note, and a personal note: Where are the activist voices of 
this corporatist sports complex as throughout our country hopeless 
Black youth callously kill each other by the thousands?
  Where are their BLM slogans and messages on the sidelines as in every 
urban city our education system betrays at-risk kids by the millions?
  Where is the presence and voice of the sports complex whose very 
survival

[[Page H1938]]

depends on 70 to 80 percent of Black talent?
  Mr. Speaker, the corporatist sports complex of the NFL, NBA, Nike 
could care less about Black lives, Muslim lives, Asian lives, White 
lives, or American lives. For them, it is indeed profit that matters. 
If turning their backs on their loyal fans here in America and 
betraying the values that have made us the greatest country in the 
history of mankind, so be it. Profit over patriotism.
  One of the values that the Republican Conference holds dear and will 
make clear is loyalty to our fellow countrymen and women. Turkiye, 
remove the bounty off Enes Kanter Freedom and any other American 
citizen. If not, there will be legislative action from this body, I can 
promise you.
  We call on the Turkish Government to release all political prisoners 
and cease its persecution of the Hizmet movement and its members. We 
expect a NATO ally to respect free speech and assembly and to uphold 
its international obligations to protect human rights.
  Let us not be the generation that history looks back on as one of 
moral indifference.
  Let us not be the generation that is compared to the 1800s pre-Civil 
War era when industries flourished from the demands of cotton as they 
betrayed their commitment to our human rights of life, liberty, and 
pursuit of happiness.
  Enes Kanter Freedom has shown the bold courage, tenacity, and empathy 
that defines our American way. For the millions who depend on American 
resolve to remain the shining city on the hill, we are committed to 
freedom and liberty in every corner of the world. We must stand, rise, 
support those Americans who speak and stand for freedom and the freedom 
of speech. Let's make sure as Americans we are not looked at as the one 
who dropped the ball in this case.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________