Erdogan's bodyguards not above the law: DC Mayor

"Brutal attacks against peaceful demonstrators may be tolerated in authoritarian countries, they will not be tolerated in the United States."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Members of the security detail of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who kicked and beat up American-Kurdish protestors in May in Washington, DC were not "above the law," said the Mayor of US federal capital Muriel Bowser on Monday.

"By issuing arrest warrants for the 12 Turkish government agents involved in the brutal and unprovoked attack, we send a clear and unambiguous message that no one — not even the security force of a foreign leader — is above the law," wrote Bowser in a short opinion piece in the New York Times.

Two US resident Turks have already been arrested for their involvement in the attack.

Bowser defended her administration's last week announcement of charges and arrest warrants against 18 individuals, including 12 members of the Turkish presidential security detail who brutalized peaceful demonstrators outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington.

The assault took place shortly after a long-awaited White House meeting between Erdogan and President Donald Trump on May 16.

District of Columbia's decision to go after Erdogan's security detail angered him last Friday.

"How can such a thing happen? They [Americans] have issued arrest warrants for 12 of my bodyguards. What kind of law is this," Erdogan asked in his first remarks since the attack that led to an uproar from the media and widespread condemnation by prominent politicians in the US.

"The actions of those Turkish security officials and their supporters were a reprehensible attack on a core American value: the right to assemble and protest peacefully," said Bowser.

 

Wanted posters for members of Erdogan's security detail facing criminal charges seen after a DC police news conference in Washington, Thursday, June 15, 2017. (Photo: AP)
Wanted posters for members of Erdogan's security detail facing criminal charges seen after a DC police news conference in Washington, Thursday, June 15, 2017. (Photo: AP)

Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "terrorist" members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and followers of the US-based Turkish Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom he holds responsible for the failed 2016 military coup attempt against his rule.

Erdogan went on accusing the DC police of "doing nothing" to demonstrators who were chanting slogans against him and his government's policies vis a vis the Kurds.

Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the US Ambassador to Ankara and said charges against Erdogan's bodyguards "lacked a legal basis."

"Brutal attacks against peaceful demonstrators may be tolerated in authoritarian countries, they will not be tolerated in the United States," added Bowser promising to work with federal authorities to bring assailants to justice.

 

Editing by Ava Homa