The Statement of Congressman Bob Filner
On the Occasion of the Inauguration of the 
National Congress of Kurdistan 
In the House of Representatives
Washington, DC
May 20, 1999

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about democracy, a 
form of government which was invented in the 5th century 
B.C. by the Greeks in the great city of Athens. The British 
honor democracy through their Parliament, the Japanese 
have their Diet, the Duma serves the Russians, and of 
course here in the United States democracy is exercised 
right here on the floor of Congress.  Democracy still 
remains the best hope for troubled humanity throughout the 
world. 

With the end of the Cold War, Madam Speaker, we have 
seen a great expansion of the boundaries of democracy. 
The world is a better place today because many former 
Soviet republics now enjoy self determination and are given 
their rightful seats in the Hall of Nations. But auspicious as 
has been the forward march of liberty, the world remains far 
from being free. Nations remain in captivity. The color of 
one's skin still bars some from feeling our common 
humanity. But the hope that we can rise to the challenge of 
total equality is enduring. People of goodwill are risking 
their lives against great odds. They know the rewards are 
worth the risks. 

Madam Speaker, on May 24, 1999, just a few days from 
now, a nation whose voice has been silenced for too long 
will convene its first congress, unfortunately, not in its own 
land but in Brussels, Belgium.  150 delegates from around 
the world representing the Kurdish people of Turkey, Syria, 
Iraq, Iran and the former Soviet republics will assemble for 
the purpose of raising their voice for their brothers and 
sisters who are denied a voice in Kurdistan. I salute the 
birth of this congress that represents a people as old as 
the dawn of history. 

Madam Speaker, the Kurds are natives of the Middle East 
who inhabit a mountainous region as large as the State of 
Texas. They speak Kurdish, which is distinct from Turkish 
and Arabic but is closely linked with Persian. Having 
survived in mountain strongholds and ancient empires, 
they are now persecuted, denied their identity and forced to 
become Turks or Arabs or Persians by the states that were 
born in the early 20th century. Thirty million strong, they are 
viewed as beasts of burden or as cannon fodder, but never 
as Kurds who should enjoy human rights that we take for 
granted in this country. 

It is a crime to be a Kurd in Turkey, Madam Speaker.  
Saddam Hussein has used chemical and biological 
weapons against them in Iraq. The theocracy in Tehran 
often machine guns the Kurdish dissidents in the city 
squares. The poignancy of the Kurdish situation hits closer 
to home when we realize that our own government is 
sometimes involved in their misery.  Turkey boosts of 
American F-16 fighter planes, Sikorsky attack helicopters 
and M-60 battle tanks.  Saddam Hussein, according to 
some declassified U.N. documents, had the support of 24 
European companies to produce his deadly chemical 
fumes and biological germs.  Tehran's opposition to the 
Kurds has gone beyond Iran with the assassination of 
Kurdish leaders in Vienna and Berlin. 

We all revere the words of Thomas Jefferson when he 
wrote in the Declaration of Independence:  `When in the 
course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bonds which have 
connected them with another, and to assume among the 
Powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which 
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a 
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.' 

Madam Speaker, given the lot of the Kurds, it is more than 
understandable that they set up their own Congress and 
take charge of their own destiny. They have the people, the 
resources and the political understanding to succeed in 
their dream of statehood.

Madam Speaker, I need also at this time to address the 
situation of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish leader who, 
according to a recent New York Times article, was handed 
over to the Turks with the help of our intelligence services. 
As you may recall, he had ventured to Europe from his 
home base in the Middle East to seek a political solution to 
the enduring Kurdish struggle for basic human rights. I 
spoke on this floor welcoming his declaration of cease-fire 
and hoped, it now seems against hope, to see the debate 
on the Kurdish question change from war to peace and 
from confrontation to dialogue. 

Mr. Ocalan, denied a refuge in Rome, was promised the 
safe passage through Greece to the Hague where he 
intended to sue the Government of Turkey at the 
International Court of Justice for its crimes against the 
Kurds. But the laws of granting asylum to political figures, 
as old as the time of prophets, were suspended in this 
case. Abdullah Ocalan, the most popular Kurdish figure of 
the day, was arrested. Through a deal that smacks of 
political venality at its worst, he was handed over to the 
Turks and now awaits his most likely execution as the sole 
inmate in the Imrali Island prison in the Sea of Marmara. 

Madam Speaker, it is unbecoming of this great power to aid 
and abet dictatorships which are merely disguised as 
democracies. Those who imprison duly elected 
representatives such as Layla Zana in Turkey for testifying 
before a standing committee of this Congress cannot and 
should not enjoy our support. Leaders such as Abdullah 
Ocalan, despite his violent past, still hold the promise of 
peace and reconciliation for the Kurds with their neighbors. 
The euphoria that we all felt for the freedom of captive 
nations in the former Soviet Union now must extend to our 
allies and their subjects as well. 

So we welcome the convening of the National Congress of 
Kurdistan. They are dreaming what to many may seem an 
impossible dream, the dream of a united Kurdish people in 
the Nation of Kurdistan.