[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7873]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   TURKEY'S REFORM-MINDED GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow in Ankara, Turkey, Judge 
Ahmet Necdet Sezer will take the oath of office to become president of 
that vitally important Nation and its 65 million people.
  This is truly an historic moment. Judge Sezer is the first president 
of modern Turkey whose career has been spent neither in the military 
nor partisan politics. He is a distinguished career jurist who has 
served on Turkey's constitutional court for the past 12 years. Since 
1998 he has been the President of the court, which is the equivalent of 
our Chief Justice.
  Judge Sezer, now President Sezer, has been an outspoken advocate for 
modernizing Turkey's legal system, for liberalizing the country's 
constitution, for reforming their laws regarding freedom of expression 
and dissent, and for providing equal protection for the rights of all 
Turkish citizens, including the Kurdish minority.
  The election of a reformist president in Turkey comes at an 
extraordinarily opportune moment. It was just 1 year ago that a 
parliamentary election was held which brought to power a coalition 
government that pledged itself to enacting major political and economic 
reforms.
  Mr. Speaker, it must be noted emphatically that the government of 
Turkey has compiled a remarkable record over this past year. It is a 
record that defies the skepticism of critics and exceeds the hopes of 
friends.
  The Turkish parliament, known as the Grand National Assembly, has 
passed 69 major initiatives, including constitutional amendments, that 
hold great promise for the future development of Turkey.
  Among the more important legislative changes that have been enacted 
are reforms to the social security system which will plug holes that 
had been wasting as much as 3 percent of Turkey's gross national 
product, strict limits on agricultural subsidies, a restructuring of 
the banking system, and a modernization of the entire budget process so 
as to control public spending and reduce deficits.
  In a series of overwhelming votes that the Wall Street Journal in 
August of 1999 has characterized as ``crossing an ideological watershed 
and a revolutionary change,'' Turkey's parliament enacted three 
constitutional amendments to open up the country to foreign investment, 
including international arbitration will be allowed on disputes between 
Turkey and foreign investors, administrative review of government 
contracts with foreign investors will be streamlined, and the state 
will formally recognize the privatization of public assets.
  On the political front, the Grand National Assembly has adopted 
legislation to provide political parties with protection against 
prosecution, toughen the sentences for convictions of such crimes as 
obstruction of justice and violations of human rights, extend the 
constitutional amnesty to Kurdish insurgents who have been trying to 
establish a separate country, and prohibit military judges from serving 
in cases that come before the state security court.
  All of these moves and many others that I have not even mentioned 
were rewarded last December when the European Union accepted Turkey as 
a candidate for membership and the International Monetary Fund approved 
a 3-year $4 billion loan program to help the Turkish government fight 
inflation.
  With an ambitious privatization program now being implemented and 
with the government exerting fiscal discipline, Turkey is already ahead 
of the IMF schedule for both revenue growth and reduction of inflation.
  All of this is not to say, Mr. Speaker, that Turkey is without 
challenges, but it is to say that Turkey has turned a decisive page in 
its history. Mr. Speaker, I believe the government of Turkey will 
continue along the path of reform that it has staked out.
  There will be critics, of course, but the salient question is simply 
this: Looking at the explosive region in which Turkey finds itself, how 
many other countries in that part of the world would America rather 
rely upon?
  Turkey has been a faithful friend and trusted ally of the United 
States for nearly 50 years, and has been essential to the support of 
America's strategic regional interests. They have been a great and 
vital ally in NATO. In a region where most countries are racing to 
produce nuclear weapons and other tools of mass destruction, Turkey has 
repeatedly and publicly foresworn the nuclear option. Turkey is not 
looking to dominate its neighbors, it is interested only in being a 
good partner and a force for stability in a region that has known too 
much instability.
  It is my strong belief that America should give Turkey our unswerving 
support in the future.

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