Turkey Human Rights Promotion Act of 2019

II 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Turkey Human Rights 4 Promotion Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 (1) The United States values its longstanding 8 alliance with the Republic of Turkey and its friend- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2832 IS ship with the people of Turkey, and seeks to pro- 1 mote their democratic aspirations. 2 (2) Actions taken by the Government of Turkey 3 in the aftermath of the attempted coup of July 2016 4 have significantly expanded the government’s crack- 5 down on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, 6 and association. Freedom House assessed Turkey to 7 be ‘‘not free’’ in its Freedom in the World 2019 re- 8 port. 9 (3) Since July 2016, Turkish authorities have 10 detained tens of thousands of people they accuse of 11 aiding the coup attempt or being affiliated with a 12 militant group, sweeping up journalists, opposition 13 politicians, dissidents, and others. A two-year state 14 of emergency restricted the exercise of fundamental 15 freedoms, and laws and decrees then codified some 16 provisions from the state of emergency. 17 (4) The Ministry of Justice reported that, be- 18 tween July 2016 and July 2018, ‘‘investigations 19 have been opened into 612,347 persons alleged to be 20 founders, executives, or members of armed organiza- 21 tions’’. A majority of these were reportedly detained, 22 often with little due process or access to the evidence 23 underlying the accusations against them. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2832 IS (5) By the end of 2018, according to the De- 1 partment of State’s 2018 Human Rights Report, 2 ‘‘authorities had dismissed or suspended more than 3 130,000 civil servants from their jobs, arrested or 4 imprisoned more than 80,000 citizens, and closed 5 more than 1,500 nongovernmental organizations 6 (NGOs) on terrorism-related grounds since the coup 7 attempt, primarily for alleged ties to cleric Fethullah 8 Gulen and his movement, accused by the government 9 of masterminding the coup attempt.’’ 10 (6) The United Nations Human Rights Coun- 11 cil’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in its 12 Opinion of August 16, 2019, found the Government 13 of Turkey’s detention of judges Melike Go¨ksan and 14 Mehmet Fatih Go¨ksan to be arbitrary and ‘‘note[d] 15 a significant increase in the number of cases brought 16 to it in the last two years concerning arbitrary de- 17 tention in Turkey.’’ The Working Group stated that 18 ‘‘it appears that a pattern is emerging whereby 19 those with alleged links to the Gulen movement are 20 being targeted on the basis of their political or other 21 opinion.’’ 22 (7) Turkey remains the world’s worst jailer of 23 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect 24 Journalists. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2832 IS (8) President Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an began a 1 crackdown on journalism before the 2016 coup at- 2 tempt, which he then intensified. The Committee to 3 Protect Journalists estimated that Turkey was hold- 4 ing at least 68 journalists in jail at the end of 2018. 5 According to a September 18, 2019, joint statement 6 by civil society organizations, at least 180 media 7 outlets have been forcibly closed since the coup at- 8 tempt. Kurdish-language and Kurdish-focused media 9 outlets are especially vulnerable. An unknown num- 10 ber of journalists remain outside the country due to 11 fear of arrest. 12 (9) The release of employees of the Cumhuriyet 13 newspaper is a welcome yet insufficient step towards 14 ending the persecution of the press in Turkey. 15 (10) The Government of Turkey has also tar- 16 geted writers and academics. Of roughly 2,000 aca- 17 demics who signed a January 2016 petition calling 18 for a restart to peace negotiations between the gov- 19 ernment and the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party 20 (PKK), more than 700 scholars were criminally 21 charged with making propaganda for a terrorist or- 22 ganization. 23 (11) The Government of Turkey continues its 24 unjust, two-year detention of civil society leader 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2832 IS Osman Kavala. Turkish authorities have charged 1 Kavala and 15 others with ‘‘attempting to overthrow 2 the government or to prevent it from performing its 3 duties’’ based on ill-founded accusations regarding 4 the group’s role in 2013 protests. 5 (12) In 2017, Turkish police arrested Amnesty 6 International Turkey’s board chair, Taner Kilic¸, and 7 its director, Idil Eser, charging them as members of 8 a terrorist organization. The charges against Kilic¸ 9 were based on the mere allegation, later found to be 10 false, that he had downloaded a messaging applica- 11 tion. 12 (13) The Government of Turkey continues its 13 unjust detention of Selhattin Demirtas¸, a Kurdish 14 politician detained with other members of the Peo- 15 ple’s Democratic Party (HDP) on November 4, 16 2016. He was a member of parliament at the time 17 of his arrest for allegedly ‘‘carrying out terrorist 18 propaganda’’ by speaking in support of peace nego- 19 tiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The Eu- 20 ropean Court of Human Rights ruled in November 21 2018 that his detention ‘‘had pursued the predomi- 22 nant ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and lim- 23 iting freedom of political debate, which was at the 24 very core of the concept of a democratic society’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2832 IS (14) Fair trial rights and protections for law- 1 yers have been restricted just as they are most criti- 2 cally needed given mass detentions and the wider 3 crackdown on dissent. The Government of Turkey 4 has targeted lawyers, with particular focus on crimi- 5 nal defense lawyers, prosecuting them for dis- 6 charging their professional duties and associating 7 them, without evidence, with the alleged crimes of 8 their clients. Police have also intimidated lawyers 9 and obstructed their work. 10 (15) The Government of Turkey heavily re- 11 stricts and censors the internet. The government has 12 blocked over 220,000 websites, has temporarily 13 blocked Twitter and YouTube, has blocked 14 Wikipedia since 2017, and is now pressuring Netflix 15 and other online streaming platforms to censor con- 16 tent according to rules set by the Radio and Tele- 17 vision Supreme Council. 18 (16) Turkey ranks among the countries with 19 the highest number of content removal requests sent 20 to Twitter and Facebook, according to the compa- 21 nies’ transparency reports. 22 (17) The Government of Turkey has dem- 23 onstrated a disregard for fundamental freedoms be- 24 yond Turkey’s borders, including in the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2832 IS States. In 2016, members of President Erdog˘an’s 1 security detail engaged in unwarranted violence 2 against journalists reporting on an event at the 3 Brookings Institution. During President Erdog˘an’s 4 May 2017 visit to Washington, DC, individuals from 5 the Turkish Embassy grounds pushed past District 6 of Columbia police officers to brutally attack individ- 7 uals demonstrating peacefully in opposition to poli- 8 cies of the Government of Turkey. 9 (18) The Government of Turkey has abused 10 international institutions to target dissenters, ‘‘trig- 11 gering a flood of Interpol ‘red notice’ requests to de- 12 tain critics abroad,’’ according to Freedom House. 13 Targets include Enes Kanter, a professional basket- 14 ball player and vocal critic of President Erdog˘an 15 who currently resides in the United States. 16 (19) On October 14, 2019, the Government of 17 Cambodia reportedly arrested educator Osman 18 Karaca at the behest of the Government of Turkey. 19 On October 19, 2019, Amnesty International warned 20 that ‘‘[i]f he is forcibly returned to Turkey, he faces 21 a very real risk of ill-treatment and further human 22 rights abuses. Cambodia has an obligation to protect 23 him from persecution, not collude in his abuse.’’ 24 Karaca is now reportedly in Turkish custody. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2832 IS (20) The Government of Turkey threatens to 1 escalate internationally its targeting of critics con- 2 sistent with an overly broad domestic counterter- 3 rorism campaign. On October 30, 2019, President 4 Erdog˘an stated, ‘‘Some countries eliminate terrorists 5 whom they consider as a threat to their national se- 6 curity, wherever they are. Therefore, this means 7 those countries accept Turkey has the same right. 8 This includes the terrorists they shake hands with 9 and praise.’’ He added that he hoped to deliver 10 ‘‘good news’’ on the matter soon. 11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 12 In this Act: 13 (1) POLITICAL PRISONER.—The term ‘‘political 14 prisoner’’ applies to a person who has been detained 15 or imprisoned on politically motivated grounds. Po- 16 litical prisoners may have used or advocated violence 17 or hatred, or in some cases they may have com- 18 mitted some minor offense, which is a pretext for a 19 politically motivated imprisonment. 20 (2) PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE.—The term 21 ‘‘prisoner of conscience’’ means any person who— 22 (A) is imprisoned or otherwise physically 23 restricted solely for the peaceful exercise of his 24 or her human rights; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2832 IS (B) has not used violence or advocated vio- 1 lence or hatred. 2 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 3 It is the policy of the United States— 4 (1) to support democracy, peace, and prosperity 5 in Turkey; 6 (2) to oppose the abuse of counterterrorism au- 7 thorities, including to target journalists, political op- 8 ponents, dissidents, minorities including Kurds, and 9 others engaged in exercising their right to freedoms 10 of expression, peaceful assembly, or association; 11 (3) to consider those unfairly detained or im- 12 prisoned under counterterrorism authorities on po- 13 litically motivated grounds to be prisoners of con- 14 science or political prisoners, as appropriate, unless 15 there is probative evidence of specific criminal mis- 16 conduct presented in proceedings that comply with 17 international fair trial standards; 18 (4) to use all diplomatic tools to ensure that all 19 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in 20 Turkey are released; 21 (5) to support and pressure the Government of 22 Turkey in the repeal or amendment of all anti-ter- 23 rorism laws and regulations that allow the govern- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2832 IS ment to unjustly target journalists, political oppo- 1 nents, dissidents, and minorities; 2 (6) to support and pressure the Government of 3 Turkey in the repeal or amendment of all laws and 4 regulations that violate the right to freedoms of ex- 5 pression, peaceful assembly, or association in a man- 6 ner not permitted by international legal standards, 7 including laws and regulations that seek to punish 8 those who insult political figures or denigrate the 9 Turkish nation or state institutions; 10 (7) to support and pressure the Government of 11 Turkey in the repeal or amendment of all laws and 12 regulations that violate the right to a fair trial; and 13 (8) to oppose the export to Turkey by any 14 country of surveillance technologies, including soft- 15 ware, that can be used to monitor the activities of 16 journalists, political opponents, dissidents, or minori- 17 ties. 18 SEC. 5. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE. 19 The Secretary of State shall provide assistance to 20 civil society organizations in Turkey that work to secure 21 the release of prisoners of conscience and political pris- 22 oners in Turkey, and to current and former prisoners of 23 conscience and political prisoners in Turkey. Assistance 24 shall include the following activities: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2832 IS (1) Support for the documentation of human 1 rights violations with respect to prisoners of con- 2 science and politically motivated prisoners. 3 (2) Support for advocacy in Turkey to raise 4 awareness of issues relating to prisoners of con- 5 science and political prisoners. 6 (3) Support for efforts to repeal or amend laws 7 or regulations that are used to imprison individuals 8 as either prisoners of conscience or political pris- 9 oners. 10 (4) Support, including travel costs, and legal 11 fees, for families of prisoners of conscience and polit- 12 ical prisoners. 13 (5) Support for health, including mental health, 14 and post-incarceration assistance in gaining access 15 to education and employment opportunities or other 16 forms of reparation to enable former prisoners of 17 conscience and political prisoners to resume a nor- 18 mal life. 19 (6) The delegation of specific United States 20 mission staff who will observe trials in politically mo- 21 tivated cases, including in Southeast Turkey. 22 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRESS FREEDOM. 23 It is the sense of Congress that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2832.IS S2832 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2832 IS (1) the Government of Turkey must take steps 1 to signific [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]