Diplomacy

Turkey Demands U.S. Apology for Interrupting as Erdogan’s Bodyguards Beat Up Protesters

Summoning the U.S. ambassador to Ankara, the Turkish government chastised U.S. law enforcement for their ”aggressive and unprofessional actions” in allowing anti-Erdogan protesters to continue demonstrating.
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Pro-Erdogan supporters wave Turkish flags during a rally in front of the White House, May 16, 2017.By Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images.

The brawl that erupted last week between protesters in Washington and the bodyguards of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended up in the background of last week’s avalanche of news, but as Donald Trump escaped the country for a week, the fallout from the fight continued. Numerous videos appeared online, depicting a bodyguard chatting with Erdogan before a pack of men in black suits bore down on a group of protesters, kicking them repeatedly and shoving D.C. police officers out of their way. In one of those videos, Erdogan seemed to watch the clash from afar as his bodyguards continued pummeling the protesters, sending several to the hospital.

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But the fight itself, executed by the security detail of a president notorious for violently quashing dissent, only underscored the growing rift between Turkey and the United States. And whereas other governments might have issued a fervent apology—or, perhaps, would not have sent bodyguards to manhandle host-country protesters at all—Turkey seems ready to stand firm. On Monday, the Turkish government summoned the U.S. ambassador to Ankara to demand a full investigation into, and an apology for, the “aggressive and unprofessional actions” that American law enforcement officers committed—against Erdogan’s bodyguards. The Associated Press reported that Ambassador John Bass had explained that the bodyguards had violated U.S. laws protecting free speech and free assembly, but the Turkish government was not thoroughly satisfied with the answer and “disagreed” with their assessment of what caused the fight.

State Department officials have already summoned Bass’s Turkish counterpart to express their concerns, and a senior official told CNN that they had questioned two members of Erdogan’s security detail. According to a heavily edited video published by the state-owned Anadolu Agency, the brawl was instigated by a protester who threw a water bottle at a crowd of pro-Erdogan counter-protesters. “Seeing how few U.S. police officers were acting against the riot . . . a group including the president’s security detail and the Turkish police stepped in,” they reported, calling the protesters “terrorist group supporters.”

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The behavior of the security guards was condemned by U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said on Sunday that while he would wait until an investigation into the fight was complete, he directed Bass to communicate “that this is simply unacceptable.” Several U.S. senators went further, threatening trade sanctions or worse. “We should throw their ambassador the hell out of the United States of America,” Sen. John McCain said last Thursday.

But the Turkish government did not accept that criticism and, in a statement, attacked “the inability of U.S. authorities to take sufficient precautions at every stage” of Erdogan’s visit.

The brawl was an uncomfortable coda to a strained trip, where Trump refused Erdogan’s appeal for the U.S. to halt aid to Kurdish rebels fighting against ISIS. (Turkey has listed the group in question, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, as a terrorist organization.) That’s not to say that the Turkish government wants to sever all ties with the Trump administration, however: Politico reported on Monday that the government itself recently signed a $1.5 million contract with Brian Ballard, Trump’s former lobbyist in Florida, to represent their interests in Washington. (Perhaps Turkey’s hopes are that Ballard won’t end up like their last high-profile U.S. lobbyist, the besieged former national-security adviser Michael Flynn.)