Attack on protestors at the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C
2017 civil conflict / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Attack on protestors at the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. broke out on May 16, 2017, between Turkey's Police Counter Attack Team and a crowd of protesters, some of whom carried flags of a Kurdish political party.[1] According to Turkey, Turkish bodyguards were acting in self-defense and the protesters were tied to a terrorist group.[2] However, according to US officials the Turkish bodyguards attacked the protesters unprovoked.[2] A protest leader denied that any participants had ties to any terrorist group.[3] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in Washington that day to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and observed the clashes from a distance.[4]
Attack on protestors at the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. | |||
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Date | 16 May 2017 | ||
Location | Turkish Ambassador's Residence, Washington, D.C., United States | ||
Caused by | Protests against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's state visit to the United States | ||
Resulted in | Turkey–United States relations strained | ||
Parties | |||
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Casualties | |||
Injuries | 11 | ||
Arrested | 4 |
The clashes were decried as a Turkish attack on American protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, which guarantees freedom of speech and assembly.[5][6] Turkey declined to apologize for the incident, blaming the protestors for provoking the response.
Of the 24 men who were filmed attacking protesters, nearly a month passed before any were charged with a crime.[7] However, on June 6, a U.S. House resolution unanimously passed calling for all Turkish security guards involved to be charged and prosecuted under United States law.[8] On June 14, two men were arrested for assault in connection to the attacks, while arrest warrants were issued for the bodyguards.[9] The charges were dropped in March 2018, days before high level meetings between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Erdoğan.[10]