Under the state of emergency, Turkey has severely rationed food, leading to great hardship amongst innocent civilians. In addition, Turkey has forced hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes, leaving more than 2,600 towns and villages mere ghost towns. These actions are all aimed at suppressing the PKK's terrorism. Even those who support neither the PKK's goals nor their means suffer at the hands of the Turkish military and police forces. Thus, Turkey's Kurdish population is under attack from both sides without any place to hide.
Turkey is both a democracy and an important ally of the United States.
In Kosovo and Bosnia, Turkey has stood firmly with other NATO members against human rights abuses. In recent weeks, Turkey has opened its borders to tens of thousands of innocent Kosovars desperate to escape Slobodan Milosevic's murderous rampage. Turkey, along with our other NATO allies, deserves a great deal of credit for its principled stand in the Balkans. In fact, Turkey has allowed the United States to enforce the no-fly zone over Northern Iraq from our air force base on Turkish soil. Yet, it would be inappropriate for us to overlook Turkey's human rights abuses against its own people simply because of its commendable actions elsewhere.