Turkish Human Rights Act

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Turkish Human Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1)(A) The Department of State, in its 1996 ``Country 
        Reports on Human Rights Practices'', documented a systematic 
        and widespread pattern of human rights abuses by the Government 
        of Turkey.
            (B) According to the portion of the report relating to 
        Turkey, ``torture, excessive use of force, and other serious 
        human rights abuses by the security forces persisted throughout 
        1996.''.
            (2) Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United 
        Nations Committee Against Torture, the European Parliament, the 
        International Human Rights Law Group, the Lawyers Committee for 
        Human Rights, Physicians Without Frontiers, Freedom House, the 
        Humanitarian Law Project, the Association of the Bar of the 
        City of New York, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, and 
        other human rights monitoring organizations have documented 
        extensive and continuing human rights abuses by the Government 
        of Turkey, including the widespread use of torture and 
        extrajudicial killings.
            (3) The actions of the Government of Turkey are in 
        violation of several international human rights agreements to 
        which Turkey is a party, including the United Nations Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights, the Final Act of the Conference on 
        Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Convention on 
        Human Rights, and the United Nations and European Conventions 
        Against Torture.
            (4) The Government of Turkey continues to deny the 
        legitimate civil and human rights of its 15,000,000 citizens of 
        Kurdish origin and has used military force to deny them an 
        identity, destroying more than 2,000 Kurdish villages and 
        uprooting more than 2,000,000 Kurds.
            (5) Turkey continues its illegal military occupation of 
        Cyprus and has obstructed efforts to reach a just and lasting 
        resolution to the division of Cyprus and the massive uprooting 
        of Greek Cypriots caused by the 1974 invasion by Turkey.
            (6) The Government of Turkey continues to blockade Armenia, 
        obstructing the delivery of United States and international 
        humanitarian relief supplies.
            (7) Turkey continues to place prohibitive restrictions on 
        the religious leadership of Christian communities within Turkey 
        and has failed to protect these communities adequately from 
        acts of violence and vandalism.
            (8)(A) The Congress, in the fiscal year 1997 appropriation 
        for foreign assistance, reduced assistance under chapter 4 of 
        part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 
        et seq.; relating to the economic support fund) to Turkey to 
        $22,000,000 because of Turkey's human rights record and its 
        hostile and antagonistic policies toward its neighbors.
            (B) The Government of Turkey has stated that it would 
        reject any United States assistance tied to its human rights 
        record.

SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON ASSISTANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY.

    (a) In General.--Assistance under chapter 4 of part II of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relating to the 
economic support fund) may not be provided for the Government of Turkey 
for fiscal year 1998 unless the Secretary of State determines that 
there has been significant progress in the following areas:
            (1) The Government of Turkey permits domestic and 
        international human rights monitoring organizations, including, 
        but not limited to, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, the 
        Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Amnesty 
        International, and Human Rights Watch, to monitor and report on 
        the human rights situation within its territory without fear of 
        reprisal or prosecution.
            (2) The Government of Turkey--
                    (A) has ceased all efforts to deny the recognition 
                of the civil, cultural, and human rights of its Kurdish 
                citizens;
                    (B) has ceased its military operations against 
                Kurdish civilians; and
                    (C) has taken demonstrable steps toward a peaceful 
                resolution of the Kurdish issue.
            (3) The Government of Turkey--
                    (A) has taken actions and instituted policies to 
                demilitarize Cyprus and provide for the total 
                withdrawal of Turkish military forces from Cyprus; and
                    (B) provides support for a settlement for the 
                Republic of Cyprus based on a constitutional democracy 
                with key United States principles of majority rule, the 
                rule of law, the protection of minority and human 
                rights, and the provision for and implementation of the 
                3 basic freedoms, namely, freedom of movement, of 
                property, and of settlement.
            (4) The Government of Turkey has ceased its blockade of 
        United States and international assistance to Armenia.
            (5) The Government of Turkey--
                    (A) has ceased its official restrictions on 
                Christian churches and schools; and
                    (B) provides sufficient protection against--
                            (i) acts of violence and harassment 
                        directed at members of the clergy and religious 
                        minorities; and
                            (ii) acts of vandalism directed at church 
                        and school property.
    (b) Report.--The Secretary of State shall prepare and submit to the 
Congress a report containing a documentation of the determinations made 
by the Secretary under subsection (a).

Summary: Turkish Human Rights Act - Prohibits economic support fund (ESF) assistance to the Government of Turkey unless the Secretary of State determines that there has been significant progress by such Government in: (1) permitting international human rights monitoring organizations to report on the human rights situation in Turkey, (2) ceasing to deny human rights to the Kurdish people. (3) taking action to demilitarize Cyprus and provide support for democracy there, (4) ceasing to blockade US and international assistance to Armenia, and (5) ceasing its restrictions on religious freedom.