[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4806-4807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                             KURDISH RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). 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 join my esteemed colleague in 
introducing a resolution calling for democratic, linguistic and 
cultural rights for all Kurds living in Turkey today.
  The lands of Kurdistan are considered by many to be the birthplace of 
the history of human culture. Some of the earliest settlements as well 
as the earliest indications of the Neolithic Revolution have been found 
among the hills and valleys of this beautiful landscape. Yet even as 
one ponders the cultural advancements made on Kurdish soil thousands of 
years ago, one cannot help but wonder what lies in store for the Kurds' 
future.
  For Kurds living in the Middle East, recent history has brought far 
less reason to celebrate. Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey have 
been persecuted by the regimes in power, with the most brutal assault 
being the poison gas attacks made by Saddam Hussein in 1988 which 
decimated an entire section of a city and its 5,000 inhabitants.
  Although Saddam Hussein's heinous attacks caused unimaginable death 
and biological destruction, his regime, ironically, has not launched an 
all-scale offensive on the culture of the Kurds. It is unfortunate that 
the most comprehensive assault on the Kurdish language and culture has 
stemmed from our own ally and fellow-NATO member, Turkey.
  Mr. Speaker, in 1997 I addressed this body on the cultural oppression 
of Kurds by the Turkish government and on the existence of 
democratically-elected Kurdish Parliamentarians unjustly jailed in 
Turkey. It is with a heavy heart that I stand before you today and 
recall recent events and happenings in Turkey, all of which suggest 
that nothing has changed. The Kurdish language and culture is still on 
Turkey's most wanted list and Kurdish Parliamentarians elected to give 
voice of their constituents, are still being silenced.
  When I addressed this body three years ago, Turkish Kurdistan was 
under a declared State of Emergency, patrolled by the Gendarmerie. 
Torture and abuse of the Kurds, the searching of Kurdish homes without 
a warrant, and the persecution of assemblies and demonstrations were 
the norm. This situation, in flagrant breech of democracy, continues 
today. The 1999 U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report for Turkey 
states that members of the Gendarmerie continue to commit serious human 
rights abuses including the torture of Kurds, well-aware that the 
likelihood of their personal conviction is extremely slim.
  Such lax prosecution is not the case, however, for Kurds. Six years 
ago four former members of Parliament, stripped of their official 
duties, were imprisoned for the crime of representing the will of 
Kurdish citizens. As I stand here today, Mrs. Leyla Zana, Mr. Hatip 
Dicle, Mr. Orhan Dogan, and Mr. Selim Sadak are still in jail. Labeled 
``Prisoners of Conscience'' by Amnesty International, these four are 
guilty only of attempting to invigorate a true spirit of democracy in 
Turkey.
  Three years ago 153 Members of Congress expressed their disapproval 
of the anti-democratic treatment of elected Kurdish representatives in 
the Turkish Parliament. I humbly stand before you to question whether 
it was enough. Today these four individuals are still in jail. Even 
more disturbing, the harassment of democratically-elected officials 
seems to be expanding from the national level to encompass local levels 
as well.
  In February of this year, in a move that shocked many of us in this 
room, the Turkish Gendarmerie arrested three Kurdish mayors from cities 
in Turkish Kurdistan. One, the mayor of Diyarbakir, had just met with 
the Swedish Foreign Minister the day before his arrest in order to 
discuss hopes for a lasting and solid peace between Turks and Kurds. 
Although the mayors have since been released, their trials are pending, 
and if convicted, they too will face prison sentences. The arrests 
raise questions, not only about the legitimacy of Turkish democracy, 
but about the sincerity of Turkey's commitment to forging peace.
  When I addressed the body three years ago, the Kurdish language could 
not be broadcasted or taught, even as a foreign language, in schools. I 
am saddened to say that this negation of a people's language continues 
today. But, here I must add that the criminalization of speech and 
expression is not necessarily limited to Kurdish citizens communicating 
in their native tongue. High numbers of journalists, human rights 
workers, doctors, and lawyers who expose injustices committed by the 
military, police, or state are also subject to prison sentences and 
illegal torture making the anti-sedition legislation perhaps the most 
``equal opportunity'' of all laws in Turkey.
  Mr. Speaker, the Kurdish Question, touches upon the very nature of 
democracy in Turkey and carries serious implications for the whole of 
Turkish society. Illustrations of how excessive laws mitigating Kurdish 
culture can spill into the mainstream, ultimately curtailing the 
freedoms of all citizens, are easy to find. Just last week authorities 
in Istanbul detained nearly 200 Kurds for illegally celebrating the 
Kurdish New Year, Newroz. Following their detention, authorities 
launched investigations of 6 Turkish newspapers that had reported on

[[Page 4807]]

Newroz activities, for their crimes of spelling the holiday with a 
Kurdish ``w'' rather than the ``v'' found in the Turkish appellation. 
(the v is not the only letter charged with criminality--p and k have 
been banned from text books)
  This persecution of a language and a culture, committed with such 
diligence that even individual letters come under fire, would be 
lamentable in any region of the world. But, that it occurs in the very 
Cradle of Civilization which bore witness to the first creative sparks 
of human culture and innovation instills the situation with a sense of 
tragedy so compelling that I believe it presents a direct challenge to 
those of us assembled here today.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution, supported by my esteemed colleagues Bob 
Filner, John E. Porter, Frank Wolf, and Anna Eshoo, was written with 
the hope that the future of the Kurds need not be wrought with even 
greater persecution and suffering. It was written with the knowledge 
that democracy, rather than being a simple destination, needs to 
continually be nurtured. And it was written with the promise that peace 
and justice may be cultivated. I ask my friends and esteemed colleagues 
to join in support of this resolution so that language, culture and 
democracy will be permitted to flourish on the very ground that holds 
our common humanity's cultural roots.

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