The House unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday condemning the government of Turkey over an attack by the Turkish president’s bodyguards against peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C. last month.
The law not only condemns Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime over the May 16 melee, it calls on the State Department to request the waiver of immunity for any members of the Turkish security detail who took part in the violence.
Video footage of the May 16 incident shows members of Erdogan’s security detail — as well as a group of Turkish-American supporters of Erdogan — launching a brutal assault against approximately two dozen Kurdish and Armenian protesters gathered outside of the Turkish embassy.
Video also shows the Erdogan squad — some of them armed — punching, kicking and stomping the protesters.
[give_form id=”79809″]Erdogan was also seen on camera apparently instructing one of his bodyguards to activate the blitz, which left 11 protesters injured. An analysis of audio from the recordings shows that members of Erdogan’s detail can be heard relaying orders to “attack” the protesters.
One woman, a Kurdish activist named Lucy Usoyan, was seen being brutally kicked by Erdogan’s security detail as well as a private citizen who supports the Turkish dictator. Usoyan told The Daily Caller last month that she suffered a head injury and was transported to the hospital after the beating. She also gave similar statements during a congressional hearing. ried out the violence, though the Washington, D.C. police department said last Friday that no arrests have been made.
The members of Erdogan’s security detail who beat up the protesters technically have diplomatic immunity against prosecution. The private citizens who support Erdogan would not be protected under that international statute.
“Today, the House sent an unequivocal message that violence against peaceful demonstrators will not be tolerated. The blame for this assault lies with the Turkish government alone,” Speaker Paul Ryan said after the House resolution was passed.
“The protesters got under the Turkish delegation’s skin,” said California Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The actions were unjustified and up to this point have gone largely unchallenged,” Royce noted, calling the Erdogan thugs’ actions “an act of suppression on our soil.”
He said the resolution demands that the Turkish government life diplomatic immunity against the Erdogan security detail members who beat the protesters.
But how that will actually play out is unclear.
The Turkish government has shown no remorse over the attack. Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador and has filed a formal complaint asserting that U.S. Secret Service and State Department agents violated the Turkish delegation’s diplomatic immunity.
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