US Senate could block arms' sale to Erdogan security detail amid ongoing assault case

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - A US Senate committee approved a bill on Thursday that would prevent the federal administration from supporting the sale of weapons to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's security detail.

The move by the Senate Appropriations Committee is part of a continuing US response to violence against peaceful Kurdish-American protesters carried out by Erdogan's bodyguards in Washington DC after his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, AP reported.

Erdogan's security staff brutalized and kicked demonstrators who had gathered in front of the Turkish ambassador’s official residence to protest the Ankara government's attacks on the US-allied Kurds fighting the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.

US prosecutors late last month indicted a total of 19 people, including 15 of Erdogan bodyguards, on felony charges for their involvement in the assault.

The move has further strained US-Turkish relations, already damaged by the former's military support for the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) currently spearheading the most significant phase of the war on IS in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Last week, Erdogan slammed the indictments and labeled the American justice system as "scandalous," though he placed the blame on the administration of the former President Barack Obama.

According to AP, the Trump administration earlier this year notified Congress of its intent to allow a New Hampshire gunmaker to sell $1.2 million dollars-worth in semi-automatic handguns and ammunition to an intermediary in Turkey but destined for use by Erdogan’s security forces.

The sale was quietly put on hold after the incident outside the ambassador’s residence, said the agency, stating it was now shelved indefinitely.

Editing by G.H. Renaud