If Turkey is rebuffed in its continued allegiance to us. this will only provide fodder for those who believe that the West cannot be trusted to remain truly friendly toward a Moslem country. None of us would claim that the human rights situation in Turkey is what we would like to see. But we should remember as well that Turkey has been the recipient of thousands upon thousands of uninvited guests. in many cases Kurdish refugees from northern Iraq. Most Kurdish people are not terrorists. They are poor refugees struggling to cope with the tragic reality of living under unfriendly. repressive regimes such as that of Saddam Hussein. But United States protection of the safe havens in northern Iraq also served to shelter those Kurds in the PKK. who were indeed engaged in terrorist attacks against Turkey. Thus we have made our own inadvertent contribution to the conflict Turkey is experiencing in the eastern part of the country.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that some Kurdish people are terrorists.