Congress raises specter of rupture with Turkey if referendum passes
A House panel slammed Ankara's authoritarian drift ahead of the April 16 vote.
US-Turkey relations will almost certainly suffer if Turks vote this month to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more power, US lawmakers warned.
Members of the House Foreign Affairs panel on Eurasian affairs took turns at an April 5 hearing denouncing the crackdown on dissidents and journalists since last summer's failed coup. They predicted that Turkey's democracy — and by extension its relationship with the United States — will further erode if voters choose "yes" on the April 16 referendum.
"We are on the side of the people of Turkey," said panel Chairman Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. "Please, I hope that they hear our plea: Remain our friend. Don't go to the polls and basically join in this negation of friendship that has lasted so long and done so much good to the people of the United States and the people of Turkey."
While other lawmakers weren't as blunt as their chairman, many of them shared similar sentiments.
