Erdoğan to visit Washington amid planned protests

Duvar English

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to visit Washington on Nov. 13, as memories of violence against demonstrators from two years ago continue to raise eyebrows in the city.

Washington has been preparing for Erdoğan's arrival due to planned protests and concerns regarding his security detail's response to them.

Days before the his visit to U.S. President Donald Trump, new State Department memos were released, showing how the events that led to Erdoğan's guards beating protesters unfolded.

In 2017, members of Erdoğan's security detail were caught on video beating demonstrators at Sheridan Circle, prompting outrage both within the U.S. and in the international scene.

While Turkish authorities say that the demonstrators were supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group designated as a terrorist organization by both NATO allies, and the aim was to protect Erdoğan, criminal charges were directed against more than a dozen of the leader’s guards.

Details of troubling exchanges

According to the newly released memos, D.C. police and federal officers who were supposed to be helping protect a visiting head of state were instead entangled with his security forces from the moment the delegation’s two planes touched down at Joint Base Andrews, Washington Post reported on Nov. 8.

The memos revealed troubling exchanges between the two sides, with several U.S. officers and federal agents getting hurt, including one who was punched.

They detail the events of May 16, 2017, including the attack near the ambassador’s residence and then fighting outside the Turkish Embassy.

According to a diplomatic security agent, the fighting intensified among all security personnel when they reached the Turkish Embassy, instigated when a Turkish officer slapped the hand of a Diplomatic Security agent over which bags belonged to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlı in the trunk of a limousine.

The fight ended with two Turkish security officers handcuffed, one having his weapon seized, and Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Serdar Kılıç negotiating for their release, the agent said.

“Ambassador Kılıç asked me if I could find a way to have the Turkish security officers released by ‘looking past’ what had happened and allowing them to fly back to Turkey as scheduled,” the agent added.

After about an hour and a half, U.S. security personnel released the Turkish officials and accompanied the convoys toward Joint Base Andrews, with the security officers, the Turkish President and the foreign minister, leaving the country.

The agent in charge, who was responsible for the safety of the foreign minister over the course of the day, said the minister departed with one final criticism, blaming the U.S. agents for the violence.

We will take every measure, DC police says

When asked about their security plans, D.C. police Chief Peter Newsham said his department “will take every measure possible to make sure we don’t have another conflict like we had the last time.”

He said his staff has been in contact with the State Department.

The visit is set to take place in an even more volatile climate, with Turkey's incursion into Syria slammed by both Democrats and Republicans.

The offensive against the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, was criticized due to the group being the main U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS.

Erdoğan had considered putting off the visit after the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 29 recognized as genocide the century-old mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, as well as a sanctions resolution.

Another issue on the table is expected to be the case of Halkbank, the Turkish, state-owned bank under indictment in the Southern District Court of New York for facilitating the movement of about $20 billion to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Lusik Usoyan, one of the demonstrators who was injured two years ago, said she finds it incomprehensible that Erdoğan would be invited back to the White House.

“It’s just not how it should be,” the 36-year-old paralegal told the daily.

Usoyan, a Yezidi Kurd born in Armenia who now lives in the United States, said she was repeatedly kicked in the head after being thrown to the ground and suffered memory loss and is unable to work.

“In this country, I had always felt safe,” said Usoyan, who fears some of the same security officers will return on Nov. 13.

“I never imagined something like this would happen to me. I kept thinking, ‘I’m on the ground, why to they continue to beat me?’ I am no threat to them other than what I think.”

Usoyan, who is among several demonstrators suing the Republic of Turkey over the attack, said she will protest Erdoğan’s return visit, joining others “raising our voices as the First Amendment allows."

“We will not be watching quietly,” she said.

The State Department memos were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by a law firm involved in civil lawsuits against Turkey and are included in public court filings.

Indictments filed against the guards describe the clashes as coordinated by Turkish officers in suits and olive-green military-style jackets who wore earpieces and appeared to communicate with each other.

The indictment says “members of the conspiracy … rushed the anti-Erdoğan protesters in a nearly simultaneous, coordinated throng,” as “Mehter March,” a Turkish nationalist song, played over loudspeakers.

David Saltzman, one of the attorneys representing the Republic of Turkey in the two civil lawsuits, said his client hopes improved security awaits Erdoğan’s visit on Nov. 13, “so that agitated individuals sympathetic to a foreign terrorist organization cannot get dangerously close to a visiting head of state.”