[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 381]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF HRANT DINK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to solemnly remember the 
life of journalist and activist Hrant Dink.
  On January 19, 2007, Mr. Dink was gunned down by a Turkish 
ultranationalist outside his newspaper office in Istanbul, Turkey.
  Hrant Dink was a man who called for tolerance, peaceful dialogue, and 
greater civil rights for all Turkish citizens. He was a fierce defender 
of freedom and believed all people have equal rights under the law. He 
believed that everyone should have the right to know the truth about 
their Nation's past, however dark that past may be.
  Hrant Dink had been prosecuted by the Turkish Government under penal 
code 301, a law that bans free speech and was used to suppress a wide 
range of dissenting opinion, from criticism of Turkish Government 
institutions to opposing official Turkish denial of the Ottoman 
campaign of genocide against its Armenian population. Under the all-
encompassing phrase ``insulting Turkishness,'' a citizen in Turkey can 
receive a prison sentence of up to 3 years with the offense being 
increased by 50 percent if the so-called offense is committed abroad.
  Nearly 100 journalists and intellectuals have been prosecuted under 
article 301, including Nobel Prize author Orhan Pamuk. Many informed 
observers believe Hrant Dink's prosecution under article 301 opened him 
up to a campaign of harassment and death threats from 
ultranationalists, which eventually led to his murder. To this day, 
citizens of Turkey live under threat of this gag law, with Hrant Dink's 
own son prosecuted under this law because he reprinted his father's 
newspaper articles.
  This is not the action of a true democracy. It is reflective of how a 
totalitarian state would behave, and this is not the Turkey we, the 
United States of America, have aligned our country with.
  Amnesty International has called for a complete repeal of this 
punitive legislation. The European Commission has repeatedly asked for 
its repeal.
  Unfortunately, indications now suggest that the Government of Turkey 
is only tinkering with changes, making this gag rule even more 
ambiguous. Today, I ask the House to support calls for the Turkish 
Government to immediately repeal article 301.
  One year ago, Members of Congress, their staffers and several 
members, and members of several communities, came together to watch 
``Screamers,'' a film about genocide in the last century, featuring, 
among others, Hrant Dink. Here, in the Halls of Congress, we watched as 
Hrant Dink discussed the problems of article 301.
  Just 2 days after the film's premiere, Hrant Dink was shot dead, a 
man who only wanted to speak the truth about historical facts as he saw 
them, a man who wanted every citizen to be treated equally, a man we 
should applaud here in America for his courage and dedication to 
democracy.
  I believe that if Turkey wants to further explore the opportunities 
that she wishes to do within the present European Union, she must 
address the issue of article 301. I hope my colleagues will join me in 
honoring the memory of Hrant Dink and continue to urge the repeal of 
article 301.

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