They are not free to use their language. They have few political rights. Innocent citizens are brutalized. Even the political moderates among them are shunned or persecuted. One result is the growth of a guerrilla movement.
Refugees pour into neighboring countries.
That describes the unfolding crisis in the Serbian province of Kosovo, where Serbian authorities are attacking ethnic Albanians. But the same situation has long ravaged another beleaguered area not far away. The Kurdish area of Turkey has witnessed much greater violence for 4 years. More than 30,000 people have died, and Turkish authorities have forced 2 million Kurdish villagers from their homes in a scorched-earth strategy to defeat a guerrilla army. But the response of the American government toward this country sharply differs from that toward Kosovo.