In a letter to President Biden, the 142 representatives urged him to address the widespread human rights abuses in Turkey during his upcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit. 

They requested that Biden raise this issue seriously with Erdogan. The 142 representatives emphasized that the Turkish government has committed widespread human rights abuses in its behavior to its opponents. 

They stated that Turkish security forces and police have been engaging in torture and assault against dissidents. 

In their letter, the lawmakers urged President Biden to uphold his commitment to combating human rights violations and to pressure Turkey to end its systematic abuses. 

Turkey has been cracking down on opponents, particularly Kurdish politicians, in recent years. 

Thousands of Kurdish politicians, lawyers, parliamentarians, journalists, and civil society activists are currently imprisoned in Turkey. 

Some Kurdish prisoners, such as Selahattin Demirtas, the former leader of Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, remain in prison despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling calling for his release.