Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
July 12, 1996
Mr. Richard Rogers, District Director
Immigration and Naturalization Service
300 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Dear Mr. Rogers:
Over the past three years we have had many occasions to benefit from the
highly professional work of Mr. Kani Xulam. Mr. Xulam, as director of the
American Kurdish Information Network, has provided our offices with
credible documentation of human rights conditions affecting the Kurdish
populations throughout the areas of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. We are aware that
the treatment of the Kurds in Turkey has been characterized by serious
human rights abuses. Over the past several years "disappearances" and
extrajudical killings have taken place at an alarming rate and the problem of
torture in police custody continues to be of serious concern as noted in the
reports of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American
Kurdish Information Network, the human rights office of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the Helsinki
Commission and the U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 1995.
We, therefore, wish to express our support for Mr. Kani Xulam's request for
political asylum. It is our educated opinion that should Mr. Xulam be
returned to Turkey he would be placed in serious danger. He has been an
outspoken critic of Turkey's policy towards the Kurds. Others who have
criticized the situation have been imprisoned and have often suffered torture.
We believe that Mr. Xulam could expect similar persecution.
We urge you to consider this reality to grant Mr. Xulam political asylum.
Sincerely,
John Edward Porter
Member of Congress
-s-
Esteban E. Torres
Member of Congress
-s-
James L. Oberstar
Member of Congress
-s-
George E. Brown
Member of Congress
-s-
Edolphus Towns
Member of Congress
-s-
Elizabeth Furse
Member of Congress
-s-
Frank Pallone, Jr.
Member of Congress
-s-
Robert E. Andrews
Member of Congress
-s-
Gary L. Ackerman
Member of Congress
-s-
Carolyn B. Maloney
Member of Congress
-s-
Maurice D. Hinchey
Member of Congress
-s-
John Lewis
Member of Congress
-s-
Martin T. Meehan
Member of Congress
-s-
Andrew Jacobs, Jr.
Member of Congress
-s-
Joe Moakley
Member of Congress
-s-
Matthew G. Martinez
Member of Congress
-s-
Ronald V. Dellums
Member of Congress
-s-
Nancy Pelosi
Member of Congress
-s-
Pete Stark
Member of Congress
-s-
Benjamin L. Cardin
Member of Congress
-s-
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522