This article looks into the changing relationship between the Turkish government and the Kurdish population within Turkey. In explaining changes in this relationship over the past twenty years, the roles of three external actors-the U.S., the Iraqi Kurds, and the EU-are brought into consideration. The Iraqi War prompted the U.S. government to have a cozy relationship with the Iraqi Kurds, a development that alarmed the Turkish government. In contrast with the conventional approach to power by the American government, the Europeans have successfully modified the behavior of the Turkish government, with the improvement of Turkish Kurds' human rights situation being one example. The combined effects of all these external actors on Turkey are the increasingly limited options available to the government in terms of its policy towards the Kurds within its border.