US-Turkish ties hit rough patch after rough Erdogan visit
In this May 16, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House in Washington. The Trump administration faced growing calls Thursday for a forceful response to violence by Turkish presidential guards on American soil, who were briefly detained this week but then set free. The unseemly incident added to U.S.-Turkish tensions that are being compounded by a growing spat over U.S. war strategy against the Islamic State group in Syria. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/Associated Press)
By Josh Lederman and Richard Lardner | AP May 19 at 9:18 AM
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is facing growing calls for a forceful response to violence on American soil by Turkish presidential guards who were briefly detained this week but then set free. The unseemly incident is adding to U.S.-Turkish tensions compounded by a spat over U.S. war strategy against the Islamic State group in Syria.
The United States said Thursday it had summoned Turkey’s ambassador to the State Department, where the No. 2-ranked U.S. diplomat raised concerns about the security detail for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington, after the guards were recorded on video violently breaking up a protest. Erdogan even witnessed the melee.
U.S. lawmakers demanded stronger action. Republican Sen. John McCain said the government should “throw their ambassador the hell out” of the U.S.
The calls came as
the Trump administration acknowledged it had released two members of Erdogan’s detail after holding them briefly after the incident, which took place Tuesday outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the U.S. capital. Even as officials vowed there would be an investigation, the guards were already safely back in Turkey with Erdogan, dampening any prospects for holding them accountable.
Local police and lawmakers initially speculated that diplomatic immunity prevented the U.S. from holding the men. A U.S. official said Thursday that wasn’t the case. Instead, Erdogan’s guards were released under a globally recognized custom under which nations don’t arrest or detain visiting heads of state and members of their delegations, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.
The guards’ release left the U.S. struggling to point to anything that amounts to accountability. It also fueled the perception that the U.S. allows Turkey’s leader to bring strongman tactics with him when he visits the U.S. capital. Last year, Turkish security officials manhandled several journalists at a Washington think tank where Erdogan was set to speak.
“There must be consequences,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said Thursday.
The State Department called the latest incident “deeply disturbing,” insisting there would be a “thorough investigation that will allow us to hold the responsible individuals accountable is of the upmost importance to us.”
The fracas erupted as Erdogan arrived at the ambassador’s residence following a meeting with President Donald Trump. Videos show people pushing past police to confront a small group of protesters across the street.
Attacking with their fists and feet, men in dark suits and others are seen repeatedly kicking one woman as she lay curled on a sidewalk. Another person wrenches a woman’s neck and throws her to the ground. A man with a bullhorn is repeatedly kicked in the face. In all, nine people were hurt.
“This isn’t Turkey. This isn’t a third-world country,” McCain said on MSNBC.
Another video shared on social media Thursday shows Erdogan watching the melee unfold from the backseat of his vehicle. He later exits the vehicle and peers toward the chaos.
Turkey’s embassy blamed the violence on demonstrators, saying they aggressively provoked Turkish-American citizens gathered to see Erdogan. The embassy alleged, without evidence, that the demonstrators were associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against Turkey and is considered a terrorist group by the United States.
The violent capstone to Erdogan’s visit spoke to the sky-high tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, NATO allies that have increasingly sparred over U.S. strategy toward defeating IS militants in Syria.
To Turkey’s dismay, President Donald Trump has decided to arm and partner Syrian Kurdish militants in the impending fight to retake the key city of Raqqa. Washington considers the Syrian Kurds an effective force against IS. Turkey sees them as a PKK extension and an existential threat to Turkish sovereignty.
In its protest against the decision, Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday demanded that Trump dismiss his envoy in charge of the anti-IS coalition, Brett McGurk.
And Erdogan, speaking in Istanbul two days after meeting Trump, put Washington on notice that his forces won’t hesitate to attack U.S.-backed Kurds if they threaten Turkey.
“We are already telling you in advance: Our rules of engagement give us this authority,” Erdogan said. “We will take such a step and we won’t discuss it or consult with anyone.”
The Trump administration rushed to McGurk’s defense.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said McGurk has “the full support and backing” of Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Still, Nauert sought to acknowledge Turkey’s misgivings about terrorism by the PKK and other groups.
“We respect those concerns, and continue regular consultations with our NATO ally on this and other topics of mutual importance,” Nauert said.
___
Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Jessica Gresko in Washington contributed to this report.
Was Erdogan personally involved in his bodyguards’ attacks on protesters in D.C.?
By
Philip Bump May 19 at 10:00 AM
After he met with President Trump this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Embassy Row in Northwest Washington, where Turkey’s ambassador has a home. At some point while Erdogan was there, a group of people across the street at Sheridan Circle began to loudly protest.
The red marker indicates the ambassador’s home. The green marker is the location of the protesters.
That protest ended violently, with pro- and anti-Erdogan sides exchanging blows. Voice of America caught the beginning of the fight.
Play Video 1:46
Several people injured after protest outside Turkish ambassador’s residence
Police fought to separate two groups that violently clashed outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence on May 16 in Washington, D.C. (VOA Turkish/Twitter)
That footage quickly demonstrated that the physical altercation originated with several men in suits who were at the front edge of the pro-Erdogan crowd on the south side of the circle. In a news conference Wednesday, D.C. police
stated that some of those involved were members of Erdogan’s security detail — which the Turkish state news agency Anadolu confirmed. “Police did not heed Turkish demands to intervene,” Anadolu said, as
The Post has reported, so the guards moved in to “disperse them.”
The police didn’t “heed” those demands to break up a peaceful protest, of course, because those protests were legal, protected under the First Amendment.
On Thursday afternoon, a new wrinkle: It turns out that Erdogan himself observed the brawl from the driveway of the ambassador’s residence.
Play Video 2:18
Video appears to show Erdogan observing scuffle between guards and protesters
A video released by Voice of America appears to show Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan observing an attack on protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington on May 16. (VOATurkish)
If you watch that video closely, though, you’ll notice something else. Right before the brawling starts, a man appears to receive instruction from Erdogan, who then signals to another man who walks down the driveway to the street — and the brawling begins seconds later.
The timeline
Timestamp 0:01: A man leans into the car to speak with Erdogan (large circle). We know it’s Erdogan in the rear passenger side because he later emerges from that point. A man with a mustache (small circle) stands nearby.
0:14: After talking with Erdogan, the man next to the door speaks with the man with a mustache.
0:16: The man with a mustache heads down toward the street.
0:22: The protesters, who had been chanting “Baby-killer Erdogan,” suddenly go quiet.
0:28: The cameraman catches the scuffle through the trees.
1:13: Erdogan emerges from the car, at right. The man with the mustache comes back up the driveway as he does so.
1:16: Erdogan and the man with the mustache speak.
1:29: Erdogan walks away from the car. Note the heavyset man in the background.
If you go back to the first footage of the brawl, you can see that heavyset man participating in the fight. Here he is, at the 25-second mark.
The close-up video of the scuffle begins at about the 21-second mark of the Erdogan video, which we can tell by comparing stills from the two.
In other words, the timelines match: Five seconds after the man with the mustache heads down the sidewalk, a man in a suit runs across the street and attacks the protesters, which Turkish state news admits was the genesis of the brawl.
We reached out to the VOA and the Armenian National Committee of America (which
also had footage) to see if there were other angles showing the south side of the street shortly before the brawl began. VOA had no additional footage to share; we haven’t heard back from ANCA.
[How the U.S. can hold Erdogan’s brawling guards accountable — and keep it from happening again]
That Turkish security forces violated the First Amendment rights of American protesters is, of course, a significant breach of international diplomacy, one that has received no small amount of attention over the past few days. If they did so at the direct encouragement of Erdogan, that raises the stakes significantly.
We have reached out to the Turkish embassy for comment.
If you have any additional footage of the brawl, please email.