Dan Burton: “Tomorrow in Ankara, Turkey, Judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer will take the oath of office to become president of that vitally…”

“Tomorrow in Ankara, Turkey, Judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer will take the oath of office to become president of that vitally important Nation and its 65 million people. This is truly an historic moment. Judge Sezer is the first president of modern Turkey whose career has been spent neither in the military nor partisan politics. He is a distinguished career jurist who has served on Turkey's constitutional court for the past 12 years. Since 1998 he has been the President of the court, which is the equivalent of our Chief Justice. Judge Sezer, now President Sezer, has been an outspoken advocate for modernizing Turkey's legal system, for liberalizing the country's constitution, for reforming their laws regarding freedom of expression and dissent, and for providing equal protection for the rights of all Turkish citizens, including the Kurdish minority. The election of a reformist president in Turkey comes at an extraordinarily opportune moment. It was just 1 year ago that a parliamentary election was held which brought to power a coalition government that pledged itself to enacting major political and economic reforms. Mr. Speaker, it must be noted emphatically that the government of Turkey has compiled a remarkable record over this past year. It is a record that defies the skepticism of critics and exceeds the hopes of friends.”