[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8197]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
             ERDOGAN: THE VIOLATOR OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, it looks like Turkish President 
Erdogan has brought his brutal crackdown on human rights to Washington, 
D.C.
  For years, Erdogan has attacked Turkey's democratic institutions, 
undermined the rule of law, and violated Turkish civil liberties. On 
Tuesday, several bullies violently assaulted protesters outside the 
Turkish Embassy here in Washington. These Gestapo-type body guards beat 
peaceful demonstrators, in one case kicking a woman lying on the 
ground. This type of behavior is unacceptable.
  Erdogan is becoming a Turkish dictator. One of the traits of a 
dictator is to violently quash opposition. He is showing he doesn't 
believe in the democratic principles of free speech and peaceful 
assembly. But, Madam Speaker, we will have no foreign tyrant violating 
these sacred rights on American soil without consequences.
  And that is just the way it is.

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