The alarming state of human rights in Turkey will be front and center at a bipartisan hearing to be chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) on Tuesday that will feature former NBA basketball player and now human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom, and other advocates of human rights in Turkey.

The U.S. State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices noted Turkey’s alarming human rights abuses including “enforced disappearance, torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government, arbitrary arrests or detentions, threats to the independence of the judiciary, transnational repression against individuals in other countries, restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom—including violence and threats of violence and unjustified arrests or prosecution of journalists and censorship—interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly, and other abuses.” Ethnic Kurds have been particularly targeted.

In its 2025 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the U.S. State Department to “include Turkey on the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.” The State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2023, identified religious freedom violations or concerns involving both Muslim and non-Muslim religious minorities, including followers of the Gülen or Hizmet Muslim movement, and Protestant and Greek Orthodox Christians.

Witnesses will discuss the government of Turkey’s human rights abuses, the U.S. response, and offer recommendations for Congress.

WHO: Congressmen Smith, McGovern other members of the TLHRC, and witnesses:

WITNESSES:

• Enes Kanter Freedom, Human rights activist, former NBA basketball player
• Alp Aslandogan, Executive Director, Alliance for Shared Values
• Michael Rubin, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

WHAT: Congressional hearing on the state of human rights on Turkey.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2255

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