Katie Porter: “Mr. Speaker, among the major abusers of human rights in the world are North Korea, and Burma, and China, and Nigeria…”

“Mr. Speaker, among the major abusers of human rights in the world are North Korea, and Burma, and China, and Nigeria, and Sudan, and Turkey. We do not provide foreign assistance to the first five of those, but we do to the last one, Turkey. And yes, Mr. Speaker, Turkey is a valuable ally of the United States, one that has stood with us in many difficult international situations, one that has provided for the southern flank of NATO, and yet we must worry a great deal that a country that espouses democracy, that wishes to become part of the European Union economically, still engages in some of the most egregious human rights abuses on Earth. Let me begin by pointing out that we are 22 years after Turkish troops invaded Cyprus, and there are still 35,000 Turkish troops occupying the northern 38 percent of that island in violation of numerous U.N. resolutions and United States congressional expressions of opposition.”