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As the only traditionally Islamic member of NATO, Turkey is treated as a pivotal ally in the Middle East. In addition, for decades Turkey and Greece acted as barriers that effectively kept the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact from establishing a warm-water seaport in the Mediterranean. However, with the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, one would think that the Turks would no longer merit Cold War-sized arms shipments. Wrong. The U.S. continues to use Turkey as its unofficial envoy between the Western and Islamic worlds. Since 1993 President Clinton has approved $8.3 billion worth of weapon sales and giveaways to Turkey, including frigates, helicopters, M-85 machine guns, numerous replacement parts for F-16 fighters, and Lockheed Martin LANTIRNs, which allow Turkish pilots to find their targets at night.
Turkey, in turn, is using these weapons in sporadic conflicts with Greece -- also a NATO ally -- and against Turkish Kurds seeking to establish an independent state. Turkey has been engaged in a civil war with the Marxist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since 1984. The Kurds, who number approximately 25 million, are the largest ethnic group in the world who lack their own nation, living instead in parts of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Over the past few decades, they have increasingly agitated to create their own state and have been involved in conflicts with their host governments -- all of which have received American arms during the past two decades. Thus the Kurds have quite often found themselves staring down the barrels of American guns. Human Rights Watch reported several incidents in which American weapons were used by the Turkish government against its own civilians. For example, following the October 22, 1993, sweep of a village by Turkish troops, "Five witnesses said that [U.S.-supplied Cobra] helicopters and other aircraft pounded the village of Zengok.... Five civilians were found dead in the village two days later, captives left by the troops to be burned alive while bound and tied, linked together with electric cables and a chain. There reportedly were no guerillas in the village at the time of the raid." In another incident, "Troops used U.S.-supplied M-48 and M-60 tanks, 105 mm artillery, U.S.-supplied M-113 armored personnel carriers, U.S. designed M-16 rifles and LAWS antitank rockets to assault the town of Sirnak following an alleged PKK provocation. Twenty-two civilians died in the assault, 60 were wounded, and many of the town's 25,000 residents fled in panic. Much of the town was destroyed." A U.S. State Department report on American weapons in Turkey stated that "Use of U.S. equipment for transportation and command and control during such operations [against the PKK] is likely." In addition, Turkey has violated Iraq's borders on numerous occasions in order to attack the PKK, who often retreat into that neighboring state. To date, more than 29,000 have died on all sides of the conflict.
The U.S. State Department's report on human rights in Turkey is equally discouraging. It states that "As part of its fight against the PKK, the [g]overnment [has] forcibly displaced noncombatants, failed to resolve extrajudicial killings, tortured civilians, and abridged freedom of expression.... Human-rights abuses were not limited to the Southeast. Extrajudicial killings, including deaths in detention, from the excessive use of force, 'mystery killings,' and disappearances continued." In addition, the State Department found "The PKK committed widespread abuses, including the frequent murder of noncombatants ... mostly Kurds." As if the Kurdish conflict weren't enough, hostilities between Turkey and Greece continue as well. In 1974, Turkish military commanders on the island of Cyprus staged a coup and attempted to unify with Greece. Turkey immediately invaded and occupied the ethnically Turkish northern half of the island. Since then, Cyprus has been divided between the internationally recognized Greek-Cypriot Republic of Cyprus (GCRC) in the South, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey. The conflict in Cyprus heated up again in January 1997, when the GCRC announced plans to purchase Russian anti-aircraft missiles. Turkey announced that if the missiles were brought to the island, it would knock them out. The GCRC eventually backed down -- only to announce that it would deploy the missiles on the Greek island of Crete instead. --Mat Honan Flags courtesy of World Flag Database
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