Speech #1040084492

Maybe it is not enough. Maybe it is just episodic. maybe a few instances of brutality that we should overlook because of the longterm relationship that the United States has had with Turkey. But then when one recounts that these are not just episodes but. rather. a campaign of brutality according to the State Department report. and then when you add to it the fact that in Cyprus. where only one nation attacked and stormed the shores of Cyprus. only one. and caused refugees and caused agony and caused other human rights violations. when you add that to the weighingin of how you are finally going to cast your vote on the Porter amendment. and then you recall Armenia and you recall the patriarchate in Istanbul and the Kurds and one after the other. then you are going to be able to determine your vote not on just a scant report of recent violations but a government which has for decades. as someone else has referred to it. has for decades engaged in brutal conduct on its own citizens and on its neighbors. The irony of it was. as the gentleman from California said. when the Cold War was at its height. we supplied weapons and economic aid to Turkey so that their weapons could be pointed toward the Soviet Union to keep them. to keep the Soviet Union. from ever being able to rush into the Middle East and fill the void of conflict that exists in that area of the world. These weapons were pointed there.