I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1361
To prohibit economic support fund assistance under the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 for the Government of Turkey for fiscal year 1998 unless
that Government makes certain improvements relating to human rights.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 17, 1997
Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mr. PORTER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To prohibit economic support fund assistance under the For-
eign Assistance Act of 1961 for the Government of Tur-
key for fiscal year 1998 unless that Government makes
certain improvements relating to human rights.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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 relat-
ing 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 Tor-
ture, 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 docu-
mented 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 Conven-
tion 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 occupa-
tion of Cyprus and has obstructed efforts to reach
a just and lasting resolution to the division of Cy-
prus 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 sup-
plies.
(7) Turkey continues to place prohibitive re-
strictions 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 assist-
ance under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relat-
ing to the economic support fund) to Turkey to
$22,000,000 because of Turkey’s human rights
record and its hostile and antagonistic policies to-
ward 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 GOVERN-
MENT 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 domes-
tic and international human rights monitoring orga-
nizations, including, but not limited to, the Turkish
Human Rights Foundation, the Organization on Se-
curity and Cooperation in Europe, Amnesty Inter-
national, and Human Rights Watch, to monitor and
report on the human rights situation within its terri-
tory without fear of reprisal or prosecution.
(2) The Government of Turkey—
(A) has ceased all efforts to deny the rec-
ognition 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 poli-
cies 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 constitu-
tional democracy with key United States prin-
ciples of majority rule, the rule of law, the pro-
tection 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 assist-
ance 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 di-
rected at members of the clergy and reli-
gious 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 docu-
mentation of the determinations made by the Secretary
under subsection (a).
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