[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2832 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2832
To assist those subject to politically motivated charges in Turkey, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 12, 2019
Mr. Markey (for himself and Mr. Wyden) 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Turkey Human Rights Promotion Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States values its longstanding alliance with
the Republic of Turkey and its friendship with the people of
Turkey, and seeks to promote their democratic aspirations.
(2) Actions taken by the Government of Turkey in the
aftermath of the attempted coup of July 2016 have significantly
expanded the government's crackdown on freedoms of expression,
peaceful assembly, and association. Freedom House assessed
Turkey to be ``not free'' in its Freedom in the World 2019
report.
(3) Since July 2016, Turkish authorities have detained tens
of thousands of people they accuse of aiding the coup attempt
or being affiliated with a militant group, sweeping up
journalists, opposition politicians, dissidents, and others. A
two-year state of emergency restricted the exercise of
fundamental freedoms, and laws and decrees then codified some
provisions from the state of emergency.
(4) The Ministry of Justice reported that, between July
2016 and July 2018, ``investigations have been opened into
612,347 persons alleged to be founders, executives, or members
of armed organizations''. A majority of these were reportedly
detained, often with little due process or access to the
evidence underlying the accusations against them.
(5) By the end of 2018, according to the Department of
State's 2018 Human Rights Report, ``authorities had dismissed
or suspended more than 130,000 civil servants from their jobs,
arrested or imprisoned more than 80,000 citizens, and closed
more than 1,500 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on
terrorism-related grounds since the coup attempt, primarily for
alleged ties to cleric Fethullah Gulen and his movement,
accused by the government of masterminding the coup attempt.''
(6) The United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group
on Arbitrary Detention, in its Opinion of August 16, 2019,
found the Government of Turkey's detention of judges Melike
Goksan and Mehmet Fatih Goksan to be arbitrary and ``note[d] a
significant increase in the number of cases brought to it in
the last two years concerning arbitrary detention in Turkey.''
The Working Group stated that ``it appears that a pattern is
emerging whereby those with alleged links to the Gulen movement
are being targeted on the basis of their political or other
opinion.''
(7) Turkey remains the world's worst jailer of journalists,
according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
(8) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a crackdown on
journalism before the 2016 coup attempt, which he then
intensified. The Committee to Protect Journalists estimated
that Turkey was holding at least 68 journalists in jail at the
end of 2018. According to a September 18, 2019, joint statement
by civil society organizations, at least 180 media outlets have
been forcibly closed since the coup attempt. Kurdish-language
and Kurdish-focused media outlets are especially vulnerable. An
unknown number of journalists remain outside the country due to
fear of arrest.
(9) The release of employees of the Cumhuriyet newspaper is
a welcome yet insufficient step towards ending the persecution
of the press in Turkey.
(10) The Government of Turkey has also targeted writers and
academics. Of roughly 2,000 academics who signed a January 2016
petition calling for a restart to peace negotiations between
the government and the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
more than 700 scholars were criminally charged with making
propaganda for a terrorist organization.
(11) The Government of Turkey continues its unjust, two-
year detention of civil society leader Osman Kavala. Turkish
authorities have charged Kavala and 15 others with ``attempting
to overthrow the government or to prevent it from performing
its duties'' based on ill-founded accusations regarding the
group's role in 2013 protests.
(12) In 2017, Turkish police arrested Amnesty International
Turkey's board chair, Taner Kilic, and its director, Idil Eser,
charging them as members of a terrorist organization. The
charges against Kilic were based on the mere allegation, later
found to be false, that he had downloaded a messaging
application.
(13) The Government of Turkey continues its unjust
detention of Selhattin Demirtas, a Kurdish politician detained
with other members of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) on
November 4, 2016. He was a member of parliament at the time of
his arrest for allegedly ``carrying out terrorist propaganda''
by speaking in support of peace negotiations with the Kurdistan
Workers' Party. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in
November 2018 that his detention ``had pursued the predominant
ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of
political debate, which was at the very core of the concept of
a democratic society''.
(14) Fair trial rights and protections for lawyers have
been restricted just as they are most critically needed given
mass detentions and the wider crackdown on dissent. The
Government of Turkey has targeted lawyers, with particular
focus on criminal defense lawyers, prosecuting them for
discharging their professional duties and associating them,
without evidence, with the alleged crimes of their clients.
Police have also intimidated lawyers and obstructed their work.
(15) The Government of Turkey heavily restricts and censors
the internet. The government has blocked over 220,000 websites,
has temporarily blocked Twitter and YouTube, has blocked
Wikipedia since 2017, and is now pressuring Netflix and other
online streaming platforms to censor content according to rules
set by the Radio and Television Supreme Council.
(16) Turkey ranks among the countries with the highest
number of content removal requests sent to Twitter and
Facebook, according to the companies' transparency reports.
(17) The Government of Turkey has demonstrated a disregard
for fundamental freedoms beyond Turkey's borders, including in
the United States. In 2016, members of President Erdogan's
security detail engaged in unwarranted violence against
journalists reporting on an event at the Brookings Institution.
During President Erdogan's May 2017 visit to Washington, DC,
individuals from the Turkish Embassy grounds pushed past
District of Columbia police officers to brutally attack
individuals demonstrating peacefully in opposition to policies
of the Government of Turkey.
(18) The Government of Turkey has abused international
institutions to target dissenters, ``triggering a flood of
Interpol `red notice' requests to detain critics abroad,''
according to Freedom House. Targets include Enes Kanter, a
professional basketball player and vocal critic of President
Erdogan who currently resides in the United States.
(19) On October 14, 2019, the Government of Cambodia
reportedly arrested educator Osman Karaca at the behest of the
Government of Turkey. On October 19, 2019, Amnesty
International warned that ``[i]f he is forcibly returned to
Turkey, he faces a very real risk of ill-treatment and further
human rights abuses. Cambodia has an obligation to protect him
from persecution, not collude in his abuse.'' Karaca is now
reportedly in Turkish custody.
(20) The Government of Turkey threatens to escalate
internationally its targeting of critics consistent with an
overly broad domestic counterterrorism campaign. On October 30,
2019, President Erdogan stated, ``Some countries eliminate
terrorists whom they consider as a threat to their national
security, wherever they are. Therefore, this means those
countries accept Turkey has the same right. This includes the
terrorists they shake hands with and praise.'' He added that he
hoped to deliver ``good news'' on the matter soon.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Political prisoner.--The term ``political prisoner''
applies to a person who has been detained or imprisoned on
politically motivated grounds. Political prisoners may have
used or advocated violence or hatred, or in some cases they may
have committed some minor offense, which is a pretext for a
politically motivated imprisonment.
(2) Prisoner of conscience.--The term ``prisoner of
conscience'' means any person who--
(A) is imprisoned or otherwise physically
restricted solely for the peaceful exercise of his or
her human rights; and
(B) has not used violence or advocated violence or
hatred.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to support democracy, peace, and prosperity in Turkey;
(2) to oppose the abuse of counterterrorism authorities,
including to target journalists, political opponents,
dissidents, minorities including Kurds, and others engaged in
exercising their right to freedoms of expression, peaceful
assembly, or association;
(3) to consider those unfairly detained or imprisoned under
counterterrorism authorities on politically motivated grounds
to be prisoners of conscience or political prisoners, as
appropriate, unless there is probative evidence of specific
criminal misconduct presented in proceedings that comply with
international fair trial standards;
(4) to use all diplomatic tools to ensure that all
prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Turkey are
released;
(5) to support and pressure the Government of Turkey in the
repeal or amendment of all anti-terrorism laws and regulations
that allow the government to unjustly target journalists,
political opponents, dissidents, and minorities;
(6) to support and pressure the Government of Turkey in the
repeal or amendment of all laws and regulations that violate
the right to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, or
association in a manner not permitted by international legal
standards, including laws and regulations that seek to punish
those who insult political figures or denigrate the Turkish
nation or state institutions;
(7) to support and pressure the Government of Turkey in the
repeal or amendment of all laws and regulations that violate
the right to a fair trial; and
(8) to oppose the export to Turkey by any country of
surveillance technologies, including software, that can be used
to monitor the activities of journalists, political opponents,
dissidents, or minorities.
SEC. 5. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE.
The Secretary of State shall provide assistance to civil society
organizations in Turkey that work to secure the release of prisoners of
conscience and political prisoners in Turkey, and to current and former
prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Turkey. Assistance
shall include the following activities:
(1) Support for the documentation of human rights
violations with respect to prisoners of conscience and
politically motivated prisoners.
(2) Support for advocacy in Turkey to raise awareness of
issues relating to prisoners of conscience and political
prisoners.
(3) Support for efforts to repeal or amend laws or
regulations that are used to imprison individuals as either
prisoners of conscience or political prisoners.
(4) Support, including travel costs, and legal fees, for
families of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners.
(5) Support for health, including mental health, and post-
incarceration assistance in gaining access to education and
employment opportunities or other forms of reparation to enable
former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners to
resume a normal life.
(6) The delegation of specific United States mission staff
who will observe trials in politically motivated cases,
including in Southeast Turkey.
SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRESS FREEDOM.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of Turkey must take steps to
significantly improve the dire climate for journalists and
those supporting the journalism profession, including ending
the enforcement of draconian laws and regulations that restrict
freedom of expression and releasing all journalists and media
workers imprisoned for fulfilling their professional
responsibilities;
(2) the Department of State should provide assistance and
warnings of impending politically motivated detention or harm
to journalists and media workers in danger in Turkey,
regardless of citizenship status, including journalists working
for Kurdish media organizations;
(3) United States Government officials should prioritize
demands to release unfairly detained journalists and media
workers in their communications with Turkish officials; and
(4) press freedom is a fundamental human right and should
be upheld and protected in Turkey and everywhere.
SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON INTERNET FREEDOM.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of Turkey must cease its ongoing
crackdown on free expression on the internet, including by
repealing or amending laws that allow the government to block a
website or remove content if there is sufficient suspicion that
a site is insulting political figures;
(2) the Department of State should support and pressure the
Government of Turkey in halting its frequent requests that
social media companies block accounts and content of
journalists and media outlets, ending its blocking of
Wikipedia, and ensuring that the Radio and Television Supreme
Council does not arbitrarily restrict online streaming services
through a costly and opaque licensing regime; and
(3) escalating controls regulating internet use are an
attempt by the Government of Turkey to silence the one of the
last platforms for independent journalism in the country.
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PROTECTING LAWYERS AND PROMOTING FAIR
TRIALS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of Turkey must--
(A) halt its indiscriminate detention and
prosecution of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and court
officials, as well as its targeting of lawyers'
associations;
(B) repeal laws restricting the right of lawyers to
discharge their professional duties, the rights of
suspects to legal counsel, and the right of lawyer-
client privileged communication;
(C) ensure that lawyers can visit detainees in
police custody, and remind police and prosecutors of
the protected role of lawyers under Article 14 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Articles 5 and 6 of the European Court of Human Rights,
and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of
Lawyers; and
(D) end the practice of prosecuting lawyers based
on whom they have represented as clients;
(2) the Department of State should support and pressure the
Government of Turkey in the abolition of extended pretrial
detention, consistent with Turkey's Judicial Reform Strategy,
and in the reversal of the April 2017 amendment to Article 159
of the Constitution, which allows for political control over
the nomination procedures to the Council of Judges and
Prosecutors;
(3) the Department of State should support and pressure the
Government of Turkey in ensuring the independence of judges and
of the judiciary system, with particular focus on the Ministry
of Justice; and
(4) the independence of any country's judicial system
suffers when lawyers are subject to intimidation and harassment
in their work and when lawyers are identified with the causes
of their clients.
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