Turkey condemns U.S. over ‘aggressive’ acts against Erdogan’s guards during D.C. visit

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Emine and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and his wife, wave during the Extraordinary Congress of the ruling AK Party -AKP-(Reuters)   

By Kareem Fahim, (c) 2017, The Washington Post · May 23, 2017 -   
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s Foreign Ministry lodged a formal protest on Monday with the U.S. ambassador over “aggressive” actions by American security personnel during a visit to Washington last week by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was marred by a violent clash between Turkish guards and protesters.   

 The summoning of the ambassador, John Bass, sharply escalated a diplomatic rift between Turkey and the United States following the violence. Footage of the brawl was widely circulated on social media, prompting outrage in the United States, along with calls for the prosecution of the Turkish guards and even the expulsion of Turkey’s ambassador to Washington.   

American and Turkish officials have provided directly contrasting versions of how the violence unfolded. Local police said the Turkish guards savagely attacked a peaceful protest outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence as Erdogan was visiting. Footage of the melee showed what appeared to be Turkish security guards kicking and choking protesters as police struggled to contain the unrest. It also showed Erdogan watching, from a distance, as the fighting raged.   

Erdogan’s critics seized on the bloody altercation - and a similar flash of violence during the Turkish president’s visit to Washington last year - as indicative of his government’s iron-fisted approach to protests and dissent at home.   

But Turkish diplomats faulted the local police, saying they had failed to quell an “unpermitted” and “provocative” demonstration.   

The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement Monday went even further, criticizing “the inability of U.S. authorities to take sufficient precautions at every stage of the official program.” And it demanded that the United States conduct a “full investigation of this diplomatic incident and provide the necessary explanation.”   

The statement also blamed “U.S. security personnel” for “aggressive and unprofessional” actions against the Turkish foreign minister’s protective detail. A Turkish official said it was a reference to an incident several hours after the protest, when U.S. diplomatic security agents briefly detained two Turkish guards as they were trying to enter the Turkish Embassy. The guards were later released and returned to Turkey, the official said.   

Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, confirmed in a statement that Bass had been summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry “to discuss the violent incidents involving protestors and Turkish security personnel on May 16.”   

“As we noted previously, the conduct of Turkish security personnel last week was deeply disturbing,” she said. “The State Department has raised its concerns about those events at the highest levels.”   
The spiralling argument appeared to sour what by all accounts had been a friendly meeting between Erdogan and President Trump before the protest. 
 

In a joint press appearance at the White House, the two leaders were full of mutual praise and spoke of hopes for a closer and more productive relationship.   

But the rift has also laid bare policy disagreements, particularly over the war in Syria, that have stirred tensions between the two allies. Turkey has been angered by the Trump administration’s decision to arm a Kurdish force to fight the Islamic State militant group in Syria in partnership with the United States. Turkey says the group is an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is regarded as a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.   

Kurdish activists were among the protesters in D.C. on May 16 outside the ambassador’s residence, according to footage of the violence. Some held signs in support of Selahattin Demirtas, a co-leader of a pro-Kurdish political party who is in prison and facing prosecution in Turkey. Others held the flag of the People’s Protection Units, the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish force.