Recent history paints a grim backdrop for human rights abuses in Turkey.  The Armenian Genocide during World War I, in which Turkish nationalists slaughtered more than 1.5 million ethnic Armenians over a period of less than three years, is on record as one of the most brutal and systematic genocides of the 20th century.  Today, Turkey’s treatment of ethnic minorities and political dissidents is a strong point of contention in negotiations ranging from helicopter sales to accession into the European Union.

While the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, the Turkish policy towards non-militant citizens of Kurdish ethnicity has been exaggerated, at best.  Since the mid-1980’s, domestic security forces have used the pretense of fighting terrorism to bear down upon civilians in the southeastern regions.  Villages have been razed and thousands of innocent Kurds have been displaced, arrested, tortured and even killed.  All indicators show that the Turkish policy towards Kurds reflects an historical, official and active strain of violent intolerance toward minorities on Turkish soil. 

According to US congressman John Porter, Turkey’s human rights record is “one of the worst in the world,” making it a morally, ethically and politically improper client in a recent, and infamous, $4 billion bid for 145 Apache helicopters. 

Despite measuring up on many scores, Turkey is finding that human rights have been an important stumbling block on the path toward Turkish membership in the European Union human rights record, including its harsh treatment of Kurds.  Turkey has been asked to clean up its record.  Whether it does so, and to what extent, will be a question of how EU officials choose to define Turkey’s human rights record.

A source:

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/0522/turkey.html