Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission,
I am delighted to appear before you today with Assistant Secretary
Grossman at this important session. I am also particularly grateful to
the President for moving expeditiously to name me as a member of this
Commission. During my four months in office, I am pleased to have had
the chance both to meet at length with the Commission's outstanding
staff, and just a few weeks ago to become the first U.S. Assistant
Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor to address the OSCE's
Permanent Council in Vienna. As a Commission member, I share your
interest in general OSCE issues, and I am happy to answer questions on
such issues. However, because of time limitations, I would like to
focus my remarks today on Turkey.
This topic is both timely and tremendously important. Human rights and
democracy issues represent a central aspect of the U.S.-Turkish
bilateral relationship. Although they are occasionally viewed as a
source of friction between our countries, I want to emphasize that we
promote human rights and democracy in Turkey not only because we wish
the best for this important ally, but also because these issues reflect
the values we hold most dear -- individual freedom, communal tolerance,
universal rights.
Our Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998 were released
just three weeks ago. We had hoped that the 1998 report on Turkey would
reflect significant progress in Turkey's human rights record. Prime
Minister Yilmaz had publicly committed himself to making human rights
his government's highest priority in 1998. We had welcomed those
assurances and respected the sincerity of his intentions. However, we
were disappointed that Turkey did not fully translate those assurances
into actions during the past year. As our report noted, serious human
rights abuses continued in Turkey in 1998.
There were some encouraging signs. Some key members of the government
indicated their desire to institutionalize attention to human rights
issues and have taken some steps to do so, and we support those efforts.
The Turkish government proposed legislation that would ease some
restrictions on free speech and facilitate the prosecution of civil
servants, and has instituted mandatory human rights training for
military and police officers. However, Parliament has not passed the
new legislation, and members of the security forces continue to commit
gross human rights abuses.
I would like to review briefly with you some long-standing and recent
high-profile human rights concerns in Turkey: torture, restrictions on
freedom of expression, harassment of NGOs, limits on political
participation, and Kurdish issues and the situation in the Southeast.
A. Torture
Torture remains one of the most serious human rights problems in Turkey,
despite the government's repeated commitments to end the practice. As
our human rights report noted, torture remained widespread during the
past year. It continued to be used during incommunicado detention and
interrogation by police and Jandarma antiterror personnel. The case of
two-year-old Azat Tokmak who was tortured in an effort to make the
child's mother confess illustrates how terrible and dehumanizing this
practice can be for everyone involved. In April the Istanbul Chamber of
Doctors certified that Azat showed physical and psychological signs of
torture after detention at an Istanbul branch of the antiterror police.
Azat's mother, Fatma Tokmak, was detained in December 1996 on suspicion
of membership in the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Azat was burned
with cigarettes and kicked in an effort to make the mother confess.
Much of the torture problem can be attributed to a climate of impunity
created by the rarity of convictions of security force personnel who
abuse human rights and the light sentences imposed when convictions
occur. There were some encouraging signs in the first three quarters of
the year, when some human rights observers noted an increase in the
number of arrests and prosecutions of security force personnel.
However, convictions remained inadequate and sentences minimal.
Particularly disappointing was the recent verdict in the high-profile
trial of 10 police officers from Manisa charged with torturing 16
teenagers in 1995. An appellate court had found evidence that the
students had exhibited evidence of physical and psychological torture
while under detention, and returned the case to the lower court for
retrial. The appellate court's decision was seen by human rights
observers as an encouraging sign, but the lower court once again
acquitted all 10 police officers.
The Turkish government had introduced draft legislation that would
increase the accountability of civil servants by updating a 1913
Ottoman-era law that has been used to shield civil servants from
prosecution. However, the Parliament has not passed the legislation.
B. Freedom of Expression
Another proposed reform would have eased some restrictions on freedom of
speech, but, again, this reform has not been passed by Parliament. The
changes would be a first step in the right direction, although we
believe that reforms to allow freedom of expression should be wholesale,
rather than piecemeal. The number of journalists imprisoned decreased
from 40 at the end of 1997 to 25 at the end of 1998, according to the
Committee to Protect Journalists. Nonetheless, it remained among the
highest numbers of any country. Too many journalists, academics,
cultural figures and politicians continue to be harassed, prosecuted and
imprisoned for expressing their ideas. Ismail Besikci, for example, has
been in prison since 1993 on a variety of charges based upon his ongoing
articles on Kurdish issues. Individuals and publications sympathetic to
Kurdish, Islamist and leftist viewpoints have been particularly hard
hit, as the Government continued its crackdown against fundamentalism
and suspected PKK members and sympathizers.
C. NGOs
We had also hoped that the Turkish Government's outreach to non-
governmental organizations -- an effort headed by the State Minister for
Human Rights -- would result in more freedom for NGO activities. On a
positive note, Amnesty International in November cosponsored a
conference in Istanbul on human rights in Turkey, and the State Minister
for Human Rights participated. However, human rights monitors continue
to be harassed. The Turkish Human Rights Association has been
particularly hard hit. One branch that had been closed since May 1997
was allowed to reopen, but two others remained closed at year's end, and
another two were closed temporarily during the year. In addition,
doctors who document human rights abuses and lawyers who defend clients
who are unpopular with the Government continue to be harassed and even
prosecuted. These groups can and do play an important role in improving
human rights practices; we encourage the Turkish government to view them
as allies in such efforts.
D. Political Participation
We believe that giving all elements in society access to meaningful,
peaceful political expression strengthens the larger society. Emotional
and sometimes contentious issues can be raised within the existing
system rather than in opposition to it. In contrast, trying to limit
legitimate political activity or expression can foster opposition and
even extremism. That is why we have been particularly disturbed when
political parties are closed or when police break up peaceful
demonstrators, such as the Saturday Mothers, a group that holds weekly
vigils in Istanbul to protest the disappearances of their relatives.
Starting in May the police began to detain some of the Mothers and their
supporters. On multiple occasions police wielded truncheons and beat
detainees, including elderly women. In September the police beat
approximately 30 detainees inside a police bus and sprayed pepper gas
into the bus before locking inside the detainees.
Turkish authorities also have limited political expression by closing
political parties. Just last month the Constitutional Court closed down
the moderate Democratic Mass Party (DKP), which had publicly opposed PKK
terrorism and advocated a peaceful solution to the situation in the
Southeast. In January, the chief prosecutor for the Turkish appeals
court filed a petition asking the Constitutional Court to ban the pro-
Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) for threatening the unity of
the state because of alleged links with the PKK, although the Court
rejected a motion to ban HADEP candidates from the April election.
HADEP's predecessors, the People's Work Party (HEP) and the Democracy
Party (DEP), were closed on similar grounds. In January 1998, the
Constitutional Court banned the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah) for
violation of the secular nature of the Republic and banned several of
its leaders, including former Prime Minister Erbakan, from political
activity for five years. Other prominent Islamist political leaders
also have been prosecuted and banned from politics, including the
popular mayor of Istanbul who was banned from politics from life and
sentenced to jail for reading a poem in public.
A campaign against "reactionaries" -- Islamists-- and "separatists" --
pro-Kurdish activists --groups that the military publicly identified as
the principal threats to Turkey's national security continued
throughout 1998 and broadened to include mainstream secular journalists,
nonviolent leaders of human rights groups, some devout politicians in
mainline conservative parties, and religiously observant Muslim
businessmen. The campaign against pro-Kurdish activists intensified
after the November arrest in Italy of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, when
some HADEP members expressed support for Ocalan. Authorities detained a
large number of HADEP members, and party leaders allege that many were
tortured or beaten. Ocalan's capture and transfer to Turkey seem to
have emboldened the state to silence even its moderate critics.
E. Kurdish Issues and the Southeast
The recent arrest of Ocalan and ensuing protests in Turkey and
throughout Europe have brought Kurdish issues in Turkey to global
prominence. Let me be very clear -- the United States fully supports
Turkey's right to defend itself against the terrorist PKK, which, as we
note in our human rights report, is also responsible for many human
rights abuses in Turkey.
However, it is equally important to emphasize that the vast majority of
Kurds in Turkey do not support the use of violence. They want greater
freedom to express their language and culture. They want to remain
Turkish citizens but would like to organize politically around parties
that speak to their cultural roots. An inclusive policy, which grants
more rights to the Kurds, would strengthen Turkey's territorial
integrity because the Kurdish community would have more of a stake in
the country's future. Unfortunately, the Turkish government has long
denied the Kurdish population, located largely in the Southeast, basic
political, cultural, and linguistic rights.
In addition, the government's armed conflict against the terrorist PKK
has displaced an estimated 560,000 civilians, left villages evacuated
and burned, and devastated the economy. The Turkish government reduced
the state of emergency from 9 to 6 Southeastern provinces in 1997, but
we had hoped the government would have ended the state of emergency
altogether by now. Unfortunately, Parliament renewed it again this
month. We have long maintained that there can be no purely military
solution to Kurdish issues. Any enduring solution lies in the expansion
of democracy, including full democratic political participation by all
of Turkey's citizens, and protection of their human rights. We hope
that, in the wake of the arrest and trial of PKK leader Ocalan, there is
a new opportunity for reconciliation.
Mr. Chairman, it is an opportunity for Turkeyto translate its good
intentions for improving human rights into concrete actions. It is an
opportunity to begin a process of reconciliation with its kurdish
citizens so that they can express their culture while enjoying the
benefits of full democratic political participation. It also is an
opportunity for Turkeyto show that it understands the importance of
conducting the ocalan trial with transparency and in accordance with
international human rights standards. We hope that Turkeywill seize
this opportunity.
The foregoing reflects just a quick overview of our major human rights
concerns in Turkey. These issues are a central part of the U.S.-
Turkeyrelationship. President Clinton and Secretary of State Albright
have emphasized human rights in meetings in the past year and a half
with Turkey's Prime Minister and State Minister for Human Rights.
Turkeyremains a priority country in our human rights policy. We
respected the sincerity of Turkish authorities' commitments to improve
human rights, and we will continue to engage in dialogue on human
rights. I have met with the Turkish ambassador and plan to travel to
Turkeylater this year for the OSCE summit and bilateral meetings.
We continue to urge the Government of Turkeyto make systemic changes
that will produce long-lasting improvements in the areas I identified.
Along that line, we have urged swift passage and implementation of
legislation, which the Turkish Government proposed in the first half of
1998, that could ease some restrictions on free speech and increase
accountability of civil servants. While pressing for these systemic
changes, we also do not hesitate to raise specific cases of individuals
-- journalists, doctors, parliamentarians -- and NGOs that face serious
problems.
Turkeyis a close NATO ally and strategic partner. Nevertheless, Mr.
Chairman, you can rest assured that we will continue to factor in human
rights when considering arms transfers. We have on occasion held up the
transfer of equipment based on concerns that it could become involved in
violations. We also have placed restrictions on how some equipment can
be used.
Human rights in Turkeyare sure to achieve greater public prominence,
particularly as the Ocalan trial proceeds and the OSCE prepares for its
forthcoming summit in Istanbul in November. As my remarks have made
clear, we are well aware of the problems in Turkey's human rights record
and are sensitive to concerns that such problems raise questions about
the appropriateness of holding an OSCE summit in Istanbul. We have
given such concerns a great deal of thought, but we believe that holding
the summit in Istanbul will help advance our human rights agenda. The
event will focus a spotlight on Turkey's human rights record, serving as
an incentive for the Turkish government to make concrete improvements.
It also will give Turkish and international NGOs a platform to highlight
their concerns to a broad audience. As this event approaches, I look
forward to working closely with you, the Commission, and your staff in
developing a coherent and principled human rights approach toward these
issues as they arise in this key ally. I now stand ready to answer any
questions you might have.
Thank you.