II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2403 

To assist those subject to politically motivated charges in Turkey, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2021 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To assist those subject to politically motivated charges in 

Turkey, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Turkey Human Rights Promotion Act of 2021’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 5. Sense of Congress on press freedom. 

Sec. 6. Sense of Congress on internet freedom. 


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Sec. 7. Sense of Congress on protecting lawyers and promoting fair trials. 

Sec. 8. Sense of Congress on accountability for human rights violations. 

Sec. 9. Political prisoners assistance. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The United States values its longstanding 

4 alliance with the Republic of Turkey and its friend5 ship with the people of Turkey, and seeks to pro6 mote their democratic aspirations. 

7 (2) Actions taken by the Government of Turkey 

8 in the aftermath of the attempted coup of July 2016 

9 have significantly expanded the government’s crack10 down on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, 

11 and association. Freedom House assessed Turkey to 

12 be ‘‘not free’’ in its Freedom in the World 2021 re13 port. 

14 (3) Since July 2016, Turkish authorities have 

15 detained tens of thousands of people they accused of 

16 aiding the coup attempt or supporting terrorism, 

17 sweeping up journalists, opposition politicians, dis18 sidents, and others. The end of the state of emer19 gency in 2018 has not led to an improvement in fun20 damental freedoms in Turkey as the Government of 

21 Turkey has codified several provisions from the state 

22 of emergency into law. 


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1 (4) The Government of Turkey has used the at2 tempted coup as justification for a broader crack3 down. 

4 (5) The 2020 Country Reports on Human 

5 Rights Practices: Turkey states, ‘‘Under broad 

6 antiterror legislation passed in 2018 the government 

7 continued to restrict fundamental freedoms and 

8 compromised the rule of law. Since the 2016 coup 

9 attempt, authorities have dismissed or suspended 

10 more than 60,000 police and military personnel and 

11 approximately 125,000 civil servants, dismissed one12 third of the judiciary, arrested or imprisoned more 

13 than 90,000 citizens, and closed more than 1,500 

14 nongovernmental organizations on terrorism-related 

15 grounds, primarily for alleged ties to the movement 

16 of cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government ac17 cused of masterminding the coup attempt and des18 ignated as the leader of the ‘Fethullah Terrorist Or19 ganization’.’’. 

20 (6) A 2020 Reuters investigative press report 

21 revealed that the Government of Turkey terminated 

22 4,000 judges and prosecutors since 2016. A 2020 

23 Human Rights Watch report highlighted the contin24 ued arbitrary detention of lawyers, which runs con25 trary to Turkey’s obligations under the International 


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1 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Conven2 tion for the Protection of Human Rights and Fun3 damental Freedoms (commonly known as the ‘‘Euro4 pean Convention on Human Rights’’), and other 

5 human rights obligations. 

6 (7) Turkey is the world’s second worst jailer of 

7 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect 

8 Journalists. 

9 (8) President Recep Tayyip Erdog ̆an began a 

10 crackdown on journalism even before the 2016 coup 

11 attempt, which he then intensified. The Committee 

12 to Protect Journalists estimated that Turkey was 

13 holding at least 37 journalists in jail at the end of 

14 2020. According to a September 18, 2019 joint 

15 statement by civil society organizations, at least 180 

16 media outlets have been forcibly closed since the 

17 coup attempt of which Kurdish-language and Kurd18 ish-focused media outlets are especially vulnerable. 

19 (9) The Government of Turkey has also tar20 geted writers and academics. Of roughly 2,000 aca21 demics who signed a January 2016 petition calling 

22 for a restart to peace negotiations between the gov23 ernment and the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, 

24 more than 700 scholars were criminally charged with 

25 supporting propaganda for a terrorist organization. 


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1 (10) The Government of Turkey continues its 

2 unjust, 3-year detention of civil society leader 

3 Osman Kavala. In 2017, Turkish authorities 

4 charged Kavala and 15 others with ‘‘attempting to 

5 overthrow the government or to prevent it from per6 forming its duties’’ based on ill-founded accusations 

7 regarding the group’s role in the 2013 protests. In 

8 December 2019, the European Court of Human 

9 Rights (ECHR) ruled that Kavala’s detention took 

10 place in the absence of sufficient evidence that he 

11 had committed an offense, in violation of his right 

12 to liberty and security under the European Conven13 tion on Human Rights. Turkey responded by acquit14 ting Kavala, but immediately rearrested him under 

15 new charges related to the 2016 coup attempt, pur16 ported espionage, and continues to ignore the bind17 ing ECHR ruling. 

18 (11) In 2017, Turkish police arrested Amnesty 

19 International Turkey founding member Taner Kilic ̧

20 and its director, Idil Eser, charging them as sup21 porters of terrorism. In July 2020, a Turkish court 

22 unjustly sentenced Kilic ̧ to over 6 years in prison 

23 and Eser to more than 2 years in prison. 

24 (12) The Government of Turkey continues its 

25 unjust detention of Selhattin Demirtas ̧, a Kurdish 


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1 politician detained with other members of the Peo2 ple’s Democratic Party in 2016. Demirtas ̧ was a 

3 member of parliament at the time of his arrest for 

4 allegedly ‘‘carrying out terrorist propaganda’’ by 

5 speaking out in support of peace negotiations with 

6 the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The European Court 

7 of Human Rights ruled in November 2018 that his 

8 detention ‘‘had pursued the predominant ulterior 

9 purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of 

10 political debate, which was at the very core of the 

11 concept of a democratic society’’. In December 2020, 

12 the ECHR ruled that Turkey must ‘‘immediately re13 lease’’ Demirtas ̧ from prison, which Turkey con14 tinues to ignore. 

15 (13) The Government of Turkey has targeted 

16 lawyers, with particular focus on criminal defense 

17 lawyers, prosecuting them for discharging their pro18 fessional duties and associating them, without evi19 dence, with the alleged crimes of their clients. Fair 

20 trial rights and protections for lawyers have been re21 stricted just as they are most critically needed given 

22 mass detentions and the wider crackdown on dissent. 

23 Police have also intimidated lawyers and obstructed 

24 their work. 


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1 (14) The Government of Turkey heavily re2 stricts and censors the internet. In 2019, the gov3 ernment blocked more than 408,000 websites, 

4 40,000 tweets, 10,000 YouTube videos, and 6,200 

5 Facebook shares, and blocked Wikipedia between 

6 2017 and 2020. In early 2021, the government en7 acted a new social media law, which threatens social 

8 media companies that do not obey requests to re9 move content. Twitter, and its live video-streaming 

10 services, are currently facing pressure in the form of 

11 advertising bans by the Government of Turkey as a 

12 result of their unwillingness to appoint local rep13 resentatives to handle government removal requests. 

14 (15) Turkey ranks among the countries with 

15 the highest number of content removal requests sent 

16 to Twitter and Facebook, according to the compa17 nies’ transparency reports. 

18 (16) The Government of Turkey has dem19 onstrated a disregard for fundamental freedoms be20 yond Turkey’s borders, including in the United 

21 States. In 2016, members of President Erdog ̆an’s 

22 security detail engaged in violence against journal23 ists reporting on an event at the Brookings Institu24 tion. During President Erdog ̆an’s May 2017 visit to 

25 Washington, DC, individuals from the Turkish EmVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2403.IS S2403

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1 bassy grounds pushed past District of Columbia po2 lice officers to brutally attack individuals dem3 onstrating peacefully in opposition to policies of the 

4 Government of Turkey. 

5 (17) The Government of Turkey has abused 

6 international institutions to target critics, ‘‘trig7 gering a flood of Interpol ‘red notice’ requests to de8 tain critics abroad’’, according to Freedom House. 

9 Targets include United States permanent resident 

10 Enes Kanter, a professional basketball player, 

11 human rights activist, and vocal critic of President 

12 Erdog ̆an. 

13 (18) Since 2014, the Government of Turkey has 

14 pursued opponents and critics in more than 30 coun15 tries, securing the renditions of at least 58 people 

16 without due process in what Freedom House has 

17 characterized as a ‘‘campaign of transnational re18 pression’’, unrivaled by any other country. In a 

19 March 2021 report, the Office of the High Commis20 sioner for Human Rights stated that the increase 

21 cases in arbitrary detention ‘‘may constitute crimes 

22 against humanity’’. 

23 (19) The Government of Turkey threatens to 

24 escalate its targeting of critics internationally, con25 sistent with an overly broad domestic counterterVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2403.IS S2403

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1 rorism campaign. On October 30, 2019, President 

2 Erdog ̆an stated, ‘‘Some countries eliminate terrorists 

3 whom they consider as a threat to their national se4 curity, wherever they are. Therefore, this means 

5 those countries accept Turkey has the same right. 

6 This includes the terrorists they shake hands with 

7 and praise.’’. He added that he hoped to deliver 

8 ‘‘good news’’ on the matter soon. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) POLITICAL PRISONER.—The term ‘‘political 

12 prisoner’’ means a person who has been deprived of 

13 his or her personal liberty if— 

14 (A) the detention has been imposed in vio15 lation of one of the fundamental guarantees set 

16 out in the European Convention on Human 

17 Rights, particularly— 

18 (i) freedom of thought, conscience, 

19 and religion; 

20 (ii) freedom of expression and infor21 mation; and 

22 (iii) freedom of assembly and associa23 tion; 


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1 (B) the detention has been imposed for 

2 purely political reasons without connection to 

3 any offense; 

4 (C) for political motives, the length of the 

5 detention or its conditions are clearly out of 

6 proportion to the offense of which the person 

7 has been found guilty or is suspected; 

8 (D) for political motives, he or she is de9 tained in a discriminatory manner as compared 

10 to other persons; or 

11 (E) the detention is the result of pro12 ceedings which were clearly unfair and appear 

13 to be connected with political motives of the au14 thorities. 

15 (2) PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE.—The term 

16 ‘‘prisoner of conscience’’ means any person who— 

17 (A) is imprisoned or otherwise physically 

18 restricted solely for the peaceful exercise of his 

19 or her human rights; and 

20 (B) has not used violence or advocated vio21 lence or hatred. 

22 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

23 It is the policy of the United States— 

24 (1) to support democracy, peace, and prosperity 

25 in Turkey; 


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1 (2) to oppose the abuse of counterterrorism au2 thorities, including targeting journalists, political op3 ponents, dissidents, minorities (including Kurds), 

4 and others engaged in exercising their right to free5 doms of expression, peaceful assembly, or associa6 tion; 

7 (3) to consider those unfairly detained or im8 prisoned under counterterrorism authorities on po9 litically motivated grounds to be prisoners of con10 science or political prisoners, as appropriate, unless 

11 there is probative evidence of specific criminal mis12 conduct presented in proceedings that comply with 

13 international fair trial standards; 

14 (4) to use all diplomatic tools to advocate that 

15 all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in 

16 Turkey should be released; 

17 (5) to support and pressure the Government of 

18 Turkey in the repeal or amendment of— 

19 (A) all anti-terrorism laws and regulations 

20 that allow the government to unjustly target 

21 journalists, political opponents, dissidents, and 

22 minorities; 

23 (B) all laws and regulations that violate 

24 the right to freedoms of expression, peaceful as25 sembly, or association in a manner not perVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2403.IS S2403

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1 mitted by international legal standards, includ2 ing laws and regulations that seek to punish 

3 those who insult political figures or denigrate 

4 the Turkish nation or state institutions; and 

5 (C) all laws and regulations that violate 

6 the right to a fair trial; and 

7 (6) to oppose the export to Turkey by any 

8 country of surveillance technologies, including soft9 ware, that could be used to monitor the activities of 

10 journalists, political opponents, dissidents, or minori11 ties. 

12 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRESS FREEDOM. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) the Government of Turkey must take steps 

15 to significantly improve the dire climate for journal16 ists and those supporting the journalism profession, 

17 including— 

18 (A) ending the enforcement of draconian 

19 laws and regulations that restrict freedom of 

20 expression; and 

21 (B) releasing all journalists and media 

22 workers who have been imprisoned for fulfilling 

23 their professional responsibilities; 

24 (2) the Department of State should provide as25 sistance and warnings of impending politically motiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Jul 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2403.IS S2403

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1 vated detention or harm to journalists and media 

2 workers in danger in Turkey, regardless of citizen3 ship status, including journalists working for Kurd4 ish media organizations; 

5 (3) United States Government officials should 

6 prioritize demands to release unfairly detained jour7 nalists and media workers in their communications 

8 with Turkish officials; and 

9 (4) press freedom and the freedom of expres10 sion are fundamental human rights and should be 

11 upheld and protected in Turkey and everywhere. 

12 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON INTERNET FREEDOM. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) the Government of Turkey must cease its 

15 ongoing crackdown on free expression on the inter16 net, including by repealing or amending laws that 

17 allow the government to block a website or remove 

18 content from the website if there is sufficient sus19 picion that the site is insulting political figures; 

20 (2) the Department of State should support 

21 and pressure the Government of Turkey— 

22 (A) to halt its frequent requests that social 

23 media companies block accounts and content of 

24 journalists and media outlets; and 


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1 (B) to ensure that the Radio and Tele2 vision Supreme Council does not arbitrarily re3 strict online streaming services through a costly 

4 and opaque licensing regime; and 

5 (3) escalating controls regulating internet use 

6 are an attempt by the Government of Turkey to si7 lence one of the last platforms for independent jour8 nalism in the country. 

9 SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PROTECTING LAWYERS 

10 AND PROMOTING FAIR TRIALS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that— 

12 (1) the Government of Turkey must— 

13 (A) halt its indiscriminate detention and 

14 prosecution of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and 

15 court officials, and its targeting of lawyers’ as16 sociations; 

17 (B) repeal laws restricting the right of law18 yers to discharge their professional duties, the 

19 rights of suspects to legal counsel, and the right 

20 of lawyer-client privileged communication; 

21 (C) ensure that lawyers can visit detainees 

22 in police custody, and remind police and pros23 ecutors of the protected role of lawyers under 

24 Article 14 of the International Covenant on 

25 Civil and Political Rights, Articles 5 and 6 of 


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1 the European Convention on Human Rights, 

2 and the United Nations Basic Principles on the 

3 Role of Lawyers; and 

4 (D) end the practice of prosecuting lawyers 

5 based on whom they have represented as cli6 ents; 

7 (2) the Department of State should pressure 

8 the Government of Turkey— 

9 (A) to abolish extended pretrial detention, 

10 consistent with Turkey’s Judicial Reform Strat11 egy; 

12 (B) to reverse the April 2017 amendment 

13 to Article 159 of the Constitution, which allows 

14 for political control over the nomination proce15 dures to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors; 

16 and 

17 (C) to ensure the independence of judges 

18 and of the judiciary system, with particular 

19 focus on the Ministry of Justice; and 

20 (3) the independence of any country’s judicial 

21 system suffers when lawyers— 

22 (A) are subject to intimidation and harass23 ment in their work; and 

24 (B) are identified with the causes of their 

25 clients. 


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1 SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ACCOUNTABILITY FOR 

2 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. 

3 It is the sense of Congress that if the Government 

4 of Turkey does not promptly take effective steps to ad5 dress the human rights violations described in this Act— 

6 (1) the President of the United States should 

7 impose sanctions pursuant to the Global Magnitsky 

8 Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title 

9 XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) 

10 with respect to officials of the Government of Tur11 key found responsible for— 

12 (A) the detention of prisoners of conscience 

13 and political prisoners; 

14 (B) the politically motivated detention of 

15 journalists; 

16 (C) restricting of freedom of free expres17 sion through social media; and 

18 (D) other gross violations of internationally 

19 recognized human rights; 

20 (2) the President should confirm that United 

21 States security assistance provided to the Govern22 ment of Turkey is fully consistent with the condi23 tions mandated in section 36 of the Arms Export 

24 Control Act ((22 U.S.C. 2776)) and the human 

25 rights provisions contained in section 620M of the 

26 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, (22 U.S.C. 2378d); 


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1 (3) the Secretary of the Treasury should in2 struct the United States executive director of each 

3 international financial institution to oppose any loan, 

4 grant, policy, or strategy determined to be directly 

5 enabling the Government of Turkey to violate the 

6 human rights of its citizens; and 

7 (4) the Secretary of State should impose visa 

8 restrictions under the announced ‘‘Khashoggi Ban’’, 

9 pursuant to section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration 

10 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(C)) on— 

11 (A) individuals who, acting on behalf of the 

12 government, are believed to have been directly 

13 engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dis14 sident activities, including those who— 

15 (i) suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, 

16 or harm journalists, activists, or other per17 sons perceived to be dissidents for their 

18 work; or 

19 (ii) engage in such activities with re20 spect to the families or other close associ21 ates of such persons; and 

22 (B) family members of individuals de23 scribed in subparagraph (A), as appropriate. 


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1 SEC. 9. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE. 

2 The Secretary of State shall provide assistance to 

3 civil society organizations in Turkey that work to secure 

4 the release of prisoners of conscience and political pris5 oners in Turkey, and to current and former prisoners of 

6 conscience and political prisoners in Turkey, including— 

7 (1) support for the documentation of human 

8 rights violations with respect to prisoners of con9 science and politically motivated prisoners; 

10 (2) support for advocacy in Turkey to raise 

11 awareness of issues relating to prisoners of con12 science and political prisoners; 

13 (3) support for efforts to repeal or amend laws 

14 or regulations that are used to imprison individuals 

15 as prisoners of conscience or political prisoners; 

16 (4) support, including travel costs, and legal 

17 fees, for families of prisoners of conscience and polit18 ical prisoners; 

19 (5) support for health, including mental health, 

20 and post-incarceration assistance in gaining access 

21 to education and employment opportunities or other 

22 forms of reparation to enable former prisoners of 

23 conscience and political prisoners to resume a nor24 mal life; and 


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1 (6) the delegation of specific United States mis2 sion staff who will observe trials in politically moti3 vated cases, including in Southeast Turkey. 

Æ 


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