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Turkey:
Would the candidate support sales to Turkey of US-manufactured arms--such as the pending sale of 145 attack helicopters--known to have been used in the abusive counterinsurgency campaign against the Kurds?
Follow-up:
Proponents of the helicopter sale say there is no recent evidence of Turkey using the helicopters to commit abuses. But restricted access to the southeast has made the gathering of such evidence nearly impossible. Any sale should therefore go hand-in-hand with open and unfettered access to Kuridsh areas.
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Human Rights Watch recommends:
The United States should not permit the $3.5 billion helicopter sale until Turkey improves its human rights record, including setting up a meaningful system for monitoring the use of the helicopters, particularly in the mainly Kurdish southeast. U.S. law prohibits the sale of weapons to governments responsible for gross violations of human rights, but the law is frequently waived.
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