Idaho lawmakers rewrite resolution after concerns raised by Turkish consulate

BOISE – It’s been 13 years since a non-binding memorial in the Idaho Legislature caused an international incident, but lawmakers have quickly reworked a memorial about human rights and religious freedom in Turkey after hearing concerns from the Turkish consulate. “We just changed some language,” said Rep. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise. A line in the original memorial, which already has passed the House, said, “The continuing presence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey has been a living testament to the religious coexistence of Christians and Muslims,” but added, “This religious coexistence is in doubt because the Ecumenical Patriarchate is considered a minority religion by the Turkish government.” In the new version, that was changed to say, “This religious coexistence is important because the Orthodox Christian Church is a recognized religion by the Turkish Government.” Erpelding said, “The Turkish consulate asked us to make a few changes. … I think the way the language was, it implied a little bit of negativity toward the Turkish government, which was not intended.” Erpelding said Idaho is one of just two states that hasn’t yet passed a similar resolution supporting human rights and religious freedom in Turkey; Montana is the other. He and Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, were contacted about the issue by a Greek Orthodox church in their legislative district. Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch signed on to a letter to the president in 2011 making similar points, and Erpelding’s memorial has backing from a bipartisan group of five co-sponsors from both houses. The original resolution, HJM 3, is on the Senate’s calendar, but Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis announced today that it’ll just wait on the calendar as a “placeholder” until the new version, HJM 12, arrives from the House. Back in 2002, a non-binding resolution urging peaceful self-determination for Basques in Spain aroused international concern after the Spanish ambassador to the United States called it a “gratuitously unfriendly gesture” and suggested it was supportive of a violent Basque separatist group, ETA. The ambassador, Javier Ruperez, had been kidnapped by the ETA in 1979 and held for a month. At the request of the White House, the 2002 measure, backed by the late Idaho Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa and then-Rep. Dave Bieter, now mayor of Boise, was held up before it reached the Senate, and the Bush Administration set up a meeting between Idaho Basque leaders and State Department officials about possible U.S. involvement in resolving the conflict between Basques and Spain. In return, the Legislature passed a new version of the measure that included condemnation of ETA. Erpelding said he was mindful of that history when he drafted his resolution about Turkey, and wrote it “carefully.” “This is nothing like that,” he said. “This will not result in us supporting an organization that is on our terrorist watch list.”