Mr. Speaker, I rise today, to express my support for the unilateral cease-fire 
that was declared on August 28, 1998, by the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah 
Ocalan.  Taking part in a live broadcast on Med-TV, from his base in the Middle 
East, Mr. Ocalan noted that effective September 1, 1998, he will order his 
guerrillas to cease their operations and silence their guns until further notice.  
Mr. Speaker, this is a momentous opportunity for the advocates of peace, the 
defenders of human rights and the champions of trade with the oil-rich 
countries that surround this explosive region called Kurdistan.

Mr. Speaker, for several years now, I have risen on this floor to draw the 
attention of my colleagues to the enduring struggle of the Kurds for peace, 
democracy and human rights.  I have strongly supported for their inalienable 
right to self determination.  Who among us has not heard of the brutality 
exercised against the Kurds by Saddam Hussein?  The theocracy in Iran has 
targeted the top leadership of the Kurdish resistance and murdered many of its 
ablest leaders.  And Turkey, a country that we supported to be a bulwark 
against the Soviet expansion during the Cold War, has now left its own trail of 
desolation in the lands of the Kurds.

Mr. Speaker, we can not afford to call a country a friend, ally and partner if it 
refuses to practice the most basic dictates of democracy such as the freedom 
of expression and assembly.  Kurds, who constitute one third of the population 
of Turkey and number some 20 million, are denied their basic human rights, 
such as expression of their identity, the use of their language, the practice and 
perpetuation of their culture as a distinct and indigenous people that has its 
roots in the dawn of history.  

Mr. Speaker, The Turkish constitution, the most solemn document binding the 
peoples of Turkey together, makes no reference to the existence of the Kurds.  
Its article 3 expressly forbids the use of Kurdish language in print and in official 
settings.  The Kurds thus can write books in English, French or German but 
can not in their native Kurdish.  Those who do end up being thrown into jails 
with prison sentences that run into a century.  The noted Turkish sociologist 
Ismail Besikci who has merely written about the Kurds has an accumulated 
prison sentence of over 100 years.

Mr. Speaker, many of us are well aware of the historical abuse of the 
Armenians.  In 1915, the Armenians were systematically exterminated in the 
Ottoman Empire.  A similiar tragedy is now being carried out against the 
Kurds.

Mr. Speaker, the time has come for a bold departure from the old policy of 
entrusting a blank check to Turkey to do whatever it wishes with its Kurdish 
minority.  The government in Ankara has abdicated its responsibility and 
entrusted the entire Kurdish region to the rule of uncompromising Turkish 
generals for the last 18 years.  They have killed more than 40.000 Kurds  --  
have driven 3 million from their homes.  More than 3.000 Kurdish villages have 
been destroyed.  Duly elected Kurdish parliamentarians are now rotting in jails.  
The voices of compromise and reconciliation are silenced.  We are witnessing 
an historical tragedy.

But now, the offer of the cease-fire by the Kurdish rebel leader has the 
potential to bring peace to this troubled region and open the way for the co-
existence of the Kurds with the Turks.  Mr. Ocalan has stated that he is ready 
to disband his forces if Turkey takes up steps to constitutionally recognize its 
20 million Kurdish population.

And some courages leaders in Turkey now recognize the crisis must be solved.  
On September 11, 1998, Husamettin Cindoruk, leader of the Democratic 
Turkey Party, a member of the ruling coalition in the Turkish government, 
actually admitted that negotioations must begin: ³Turkey will get nowhere by 
masking this problem and delaying a solution.²  He suggested that the talks 
that produced the Good Friday Agreement between Ireland and Britain can be 
a model for his country.  Members of the largest Turkish party, Virtue Party, 
Recai Kutan and Hasim Hasimi, have also expressed similiar sentiments.  
These deputies ought to be commended for their courage: their words carry the 
real promise of peace.

Mr. Speaker, I can not help but bring to the attention of this body the plight of 
a group of Kurdish and Turkish women who have gathered in front of 
Galatasaray High School to protest the disappearance of their loved ones for 
the last three years.  Known as Saturday Mothers, they were visited this past 
January by our colleagues, Congressman John Porter and Steny Hoyer and 
the President of Human Rights Alliance, Kathryn Cameron Porter.  Under the 
UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
the authorities are obliged to carry out prompt, through and impartial 
investigations into every report of ³disappearance².  According Amnesty 
International, no investigations satisfying these criteria have been carried out.  
This sad state of affairs was compounded on August 29, 1998, when police 
detained 150 people who wanted to take part in the silent vigil.  Though the 
detainees were eventually released, the authorities are clearly intent on 
intimidating these women from convening.

Mr. Speaker, Kurdistan neighbors the oil rich republics of Caspian Sea basin 
that are now viewed as the new frontier for worldıs energy supplies.  Neither 
the business community of the U. S. nor of Europe can remain indifferent to 
the continued conflict in the lands of the Kurds so close to these supplies.  For 
now, there are several routes that are being considered for the transportation 
of these resources.  The leading candidate  --  the Baku Ceyhan route  --  goes 
right through the Kurdish territory.  There is great fear that Turkey may  
choose the road traveled by Saddam and depopulate the area of its Kurdish 
residents the way he depopulated Kirkuk and Khanagin in Iraqi Kurdistan.  We 
must begin negotiations now!.

With the declaration of the Kurdish cease-fire, we now have the opportunity.  
We must recognize the cease-fire and urge the government of Turkey to do the 
same.  We must express our agreement with Mr. Ocalan that a civilized way 
needs to be found out of this path of blood and suffering.  This, Mr. Speaker, is 
our responsibility as the only superpower in the world.  We helped to make 
possible the Good Friday Agreement, the Dayton talks and the Israeli-
Palestinian Accords.  We must do no less for the Kurds.