Press Release

March 26, 1996

202.483.6444

End the War in Kurdistan 15 members of the United States Congress, John E. Porter, Estaban E. Torres, Michael Bilirakis, Maurice Hinchey, Frank Pallone, Jr., Edolphus Towns, Carolyn Maloney, Anna Eshoo, Robert E. Andrews, William O. Lipinski, Frank R. Wolf, Gary L. Ackerman, Charles E. Schumer, Elizabeth Furse and Robert G. Torricelli in a letter to President Clinton urged him to play the role of a peacemaker between the Kurds and the Turks. The text of the letter follows verbatim.

"President William J. Clinton The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Clinton,

On January 23, 1996, in your State of the Union address, you said, "...we can and should be the world's very best peacemaker."

We are writing to ask your help in bringing the blessings of peace to the Kurds who are struggling against a cruel repression in southeastern Turkey.

Little known in our part of the world, this conflict has devastated much of the Kurdish region in the country. Regrettably, weapons supplied to the Turkish army by the United States have contributed in no small measure to this calamity. House Concurrent Resolution 136 of the 104th Congress notes that, "... the human toll of this conflict has been great, with the loss of more than 20,000 lives, the displacement of more than 3 million civilians, and the destruction of more than 2,650 Kurdish villages."

This war can be brought to a close, Mr. President. The Kurdish people want peace. Their armed leadership declared a unilateral cease-fire on December 15, 1995 to pave the way for the difficult but essential task of the peacemakers. A vast majority of the Turkish people and their true friends around the world want peace too. It is the leadership in Ankara that insists on the course of war.

We urge you, Mr. President, to stop supplying arms to Turkey so long as its abuse of Kurds persists and to offer your good offices to these recently estranged peoples to reconcile their differences. We ask you, Mr. President, to seize this moment of hope for it also accords with your vision of a world free from major conflicts.

In Kurdish lands, we want the killing to stop, peace to prevail and the civil rights of the Kurds protected.

Sincerely yours,"