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Utica College Center of Public Affairs and Election Research
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Turkish President Goes to Washington, PR Disaster Ensues By Evren Celik Wiltse
TURKISH POLITICS
It is not usual for the
US Senators to urge the deportation of ambassadors, or for the State Department to issue press statements condemning an official visit; however, probably less common is having security details of foreign dignitaries beat up civilians on US streets.
During Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official visit on May 16, both his supporters and protestors gathered in Washington DC. Subsequently, in the Metropolitan Police Chief’s words, people witnessed, “
a brutal attack on peaceful protestors at the Turkish ambassador’s residence.” Police reports showed 11 people and 1 policeman being injured, nine requiring hospitalization (video
here).
Two days later, the Turkish Embassy issued the
following statement:
Groups affiliated with the PKK, which the U.S. and Turkey have designated as a terrorist organization, gathered yesterday without permit in Sheridan Circle in the immediate vicinity of the Ambassador’s Residence, while the President of Turkey was visiting the Residence. The demonstrators began aggressively provoking Turkish-American citizens who had peacefully assembled to greet the President. The Turkish-Americans responded in self-defense and one of them was seriously injured. The violence and injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration. We hope that, in the future, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that similar provocative actions causing harm and violence do not occur. [emphasis mine]
Several points stand out in this statement. First, somehow, the embassy staff could instantly assess the “affiliation” of various protesting groups, simply by looking out the window. Additionally, by their reasoning, as the groups expressed pro-Kurdish sentiments, they must have been affiliates of the PKK, the pro-Kurdish terrorist organization in the Middle East.
This is the quintessential example of a common logical flaw: guilt by association. Kurds today are dispersed across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. None of these countries have a democratic record they could be proud of. Given the highly publicized hardships Kurds face, associating any plea for justice and human rights with the most notorious terrorist organization cannot be fair or reasonable. Yet, the embassy slaps the PKK label liberally, implying the protestors were terrorists.
The statements of “gathering without permit”, and “aggressively provoking the Turkish-American citizens,” also signal significant problems. Normally, diplomats are trained to understand the main political, legal, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the countries they serve in. At a minimum, they should know the basic constitutional rights and liberties in that country.
Any basic US Government textbook explains the First Amendment rights, and lists the landmark Supreme Court cases that regulate speech. Compared to other democracies, the US stands out as a more “liberal” polity, with minimal restrictions on free speech.
Probably one of the most recent cases that tested the limits of free speech in the US involved the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members were picketing at the funerals of US soldiers who had died in Iraq. They were shouting highly provocative, homophobic slogans such as, "God Hates the USA”, “Thank God for 9/11," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."
Despite these outrageously offensive and provocative statements, the Supreme Court almost unanimously (
8 to1) decided that Westboro followers had the freedom to express them. Among other things, justices based their decision on the fact that the members of the church “were "speaking" on matters of public concern on public property and thus, were entitled to protection under the First Amendment.”
In short, the protestors in Sheridan Circle last week had a constitutional right to voice their provocative statements, without any prior permit, as long as they did not trespass the Turkish Embassy grounds. Yet, Embassy’s statement lacks this basic knowledge of constitutional freedoms in the US.
Finally, the statement curiously mentions a single demonstrator as injured, who was a Turkish-American –read pro-Turkish government. Apparently, there is no need to mention the policeman and ten other demonstrators who were also seriously injured and hospitalized.
Turkish diplomats are facing increasingly more PR quandaries, as the Turkish President travels around the world with his security details throwing their weight around. Just last year, a similar incident took place at the Brookings Institute. His trip across Latin America left a trail of aggression. Protestors and students were gagged, beaten and zip-tied by the Turkish guards in Colombia, Chile and Ecuador, as the local officials stared in utter shock.
In fact, subsequent to these scandals, Mr. Erdogan’s security details were urgently issued diplomatic passports, which granted them certain immunity. Under normal circumstances, they should have carried the service passport, since they were neither diplomats, nor high-ranking public employees who are eligible for the diplomatic passport.
Diplomatic immunity does not shield foreign visitors when they commit crimes on US soil. The NYPD did not hesitate to throw prominent French politician and President of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) behind bars, when he was accused of sexually harassing a maid in his hotel room. His arrest and photos in handcuffs probably cost him the French presidency,
When it comes to Turkey, it is past due to replace words with deeds. That is, unless the US public wants another episode where the Turkish security guards hold protesting women in headlocks or kick them in the chest.
Evren Celik Wiltse is Assistant Professor of Political Science at South Dakota State University.
Kurds and other anti-Erdoğan protesters detail attack by Turkish forces at D.C. embassy and demand justice
Shortly after Donald Trump tweeted “It was a great honor to welcome the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the @WhiteHouse today!,” members of Erdoğan’s security staff, many of whom appear to have been armed, attacked a peaceful protest across from the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C.
“We were only 13 people [plus two children] but we were Iranian, Kurdish, Armenian, Ezidi, American, man and woman, and we were basically there to protest Erdoğan and the Turkish state’s fascist policies,” said Pooyan Bahar, one of the protesters who describes himself as a human rights advocate. “And we were attacked by Erdoğan’s security guards who basically outnumbered us five to one and they brutally attacked us.”
Erdoğan’s government has been engaged in a violent suppression of the press and a purge of universities, the military, police, civil service, and political parties of opponents since a failed coup last July. But Turkey's campaign against the minority of Kurds, some of which has been engaged in long separatist struggle with the Turkish state, has been particularly intense, drawing comparisons with some of the worst atrocities in Syria.
Earlier in the day, protesters, both for and against Erdoğan, had gathered in front of the White House where there was a small skirmish between the two sides.
Politics can be complicated for Kurds living in America. Some of the anti-Erdoğan protesters were there partly to show their support for Trump, who defied Erdoğan earlier this month when he agreed to directly arm the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) which is doing much of the on-the-ground fighting against ISIS in Syria. But they were also opposed to Trump inviting the Turkish leader to Washington at all.
"We wanted to show our support to President Donald Trump of sending the arms to YPG and the Kurds they are fighting for all of us," said Ceren Borazan, one of the protesters who was attacked. "And I wanted to President Trump not to welcome Erdoğan. That’s why I wanted to use my right to expression and express my thoughts."
A small group of protesters heard Erdoğan would stop by the ambassador’s residence, a couple of blocks from the Turkish embassy, and decided to march there.
“When we came in front of the Turkish ambassador’s house, there were about 20 D.C. police on the ground who were standing between us and the Turkish protesters who were on the other side of the street and they started shouting at us and we were chanting on the other side of the street,” he said.
A small fight broke out, Bahar said, with kicking and punching on both sides but both sides quickly retreated when police pushed them back.
Then, Bahar said, Erdoğan seemed to arrive at the ambassador's house, which used to be the embassy: “As he was going inside the embassy, some of his security forces came out and there were about a hundred of them and each time, as you’ve seen on the videos, they are beating us and it is five people beating one person.”
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Kurdish and Armenian and Ezidi protestors brutality attacked by members of Erdogan security in front of Turkish Emb
6:12 PM - 16 May 2017
Bahar saw two different groups attack the protesters. “The ones with the suits, which I have seen pictures that show they were wearing guns under their coats, and the ones who were wearing green were openly wearing firearms.”
In videos, the scene is chaotic. When MPD officers pushed the men in dark suits away from one protester, they simply ran around the officers to kick or punch or choke others with a calculated, yet frenetic, violence.
Heewa Arya, a Kurdish-American, was there with his daughter.
"There were people with the tie and suits and very nice dressed and they had Turkish flags and as soon as we walked through they started screaming, were pretty aggressive, started coming toward us, you know," he said. "I had my daughter on my shoulder as we walked. She got so scared. I don’t know how to describe it. It was terrible. All of a sudden there was hundreds of them attacked us."
Arya says that a friend who was also there with a child, took his daughter and started running away from the area.
"I was attacked by many people. I don’t remember how many but I remember at first I got a kick to my chest and then I think another guy from behind put me down and then I just remember there were kicks all over, kicks and punches, punches in my head, in my neck, in my back body," he said. "I just tried to cover as much as I can my front face, my head was down. I don’t remember anything else. I was maybe unconscious for a second from the punches."
Later, Arya said, his daughter was terrified that the men knew where they lived. "It kind of reminded me of me when I was a little kid. I was so upset yesterday when she say that," he paused here, choking up a little. "Because it takes me right back there when I was her age."
Arya came from the Iranian part of Kurdistan, where his mother was arrested when he was about the same age as his daughter. "I was a little kid when my mom, you know, was arrested for being a Kurd, being an activist, being a women’s rights activist," he said. "I couldn’t see her for five years. Seeing what happened yesterday brought all of those memories back. I was beaten as a kid. You could be beaten by police any time."
At least nine people were hospitalized after the attack. “One female friend you can see she’s on the ground and these men come and they are kicking her, like multiple people come and just walk on her and they kicked her in the head and she had an MRI yesterday in GW hospital,” Bahar said.
Bahar said that one of his friends, seen shaking on the ground in a video, had a seizure after being attacked and another was choked, an incident caught in photographs and video.
A Kurdish American man beaten by Turkish security forces. (Courtesy: Baltimore Bloc)
Ceren Borazan, the woman who praised Trump's support of the Kurds, was grabbed by one of the men in suits and choked. "While he was attacking me, they were saying really unbelievable bad words to a woman I don't even want to mention here," she said. "I'm worried about my life and my friends life, as a Kurd, as a woman."
Turkish security choking Borazan. (Courtesy: Baltimore Bloc)
Although MPD struggled to contain the violence and appeared ineffectual against the violence, the police chief promised there will be some accountability.
“Attacking peaceful protesters goes against our core values to exercise our First Amendment Rights here in Washington, DC.,” said police chief Peter Newsham. “There were two arrests yesterday afternoon, and MPD will be working with our federal partners to assure that there is accountability for any others involved.”
One of those arrested, Jalal Kheirabadi, a Kurd, was charged with assaulting a police officer.
"Jalal was just defending himself," Arya said of his friend. "They tried to get Jalal and take him to their crowd so they could beat him up really, they tried to kill him, they tried to push him, he tried to defend himself. They say he hit the police. Come on, there was no police over there."
The other arrestee, Ayten Necmi is a resident of New York and was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly striking a protester.
Bahar said that he and his associates are trying to press charges against the security forces who attacked them but fears that the many “are Erdoğan’s security attaches, who are coming with him from Turkey and are going to return with him to Turkey today.”
Protesters being attacked. (Courtesy: Baltimore Bloc)
He said they were questioned in the hospital by the Secret Service, which issued a statement saying "The Secret Service fully respects individuals [sic] First Amendment Right to free speech and the right to peacefully protest. We will continue to work with our partners at MPD and the State Department to aggressively pursue accountability for those involved in yesterday’s protests."
While the Secret Service did not mention the Turkish security forces, the State Department was more direct.
"We are concerned by the violent incidents involving protestors and Turkish security personnel Tuesday evening. Violence is never an appropriate response to free speech, and we support the rights of people everywhere to free expression and peaceful protest," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement. "We are communicating our concern to the Turkish government in the strongest possible terms."
Anadolu Agency, a Turkish news service, reported that members of Erdoğan’s security forces were involved in the attack. The Turkish Embassy issued a response on the evening after the incident:
“Groups affiliated with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party], which the U.S. and Turkey have designated as a terrorist organization, gathered yesterday without permit in Sheridan Circle in the immediate vicinity of the Ambassador’s Residence, while the President of Turkey was visiting the Residence. The demonstrators began aggressively provoking Turkish-American citizens who had peacefully assembled to greet the President. The Turkish-Americans responded in self-defense and one of them was seriously injured. The violence and injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration. We hope that, in the future, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that similar provocative actions causing harm and violence do not occur.”
The incident comes exactly a month after Donald Trump called to congratulate Erdoğan on a narrow victory in a referendum that would rewrite the constitution, allowing Erdoğan to assume total authority and eliminate the parliamentary system.
At the time, the State Department called on the Turkish government “to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all its citizens,” even though the Turkish regime had been engaged in an authoritarian dismantling of democracy for some time.
Kurds were especially outraged by Trump's support of Erdoğan.
"How do I feel about it?" Arya asked. "How do I feel about all these children every day die? How do I feel about all these women get raped every day in Turkish jails? How about all these journalists, they get assassinated, they get killed, they get disappeared? How will I feel? It’s a terrible feeling, man. It’s not a good feeling. Mr. Trump, I don’t think he really realizes what he is doing."
But
Arya also thinks it could be a wake-up call for Americans. "In one way I was happy that happened because I would like the American people to see what the Kurdish people are dealing with. If they do things here like that, what they do in their own country in Turkey...where there is no media, there is no journalists?" he asked.
According to a Guardian report, 173 media outlets have been shut down since the state of emergency following a failed coup last year and more than 150 journalists have been imprisoned. Kurdish outlets have been hit particularly hard and Kurdish reporters are often arrested while covering protests.
After the arrest of journalist Deniz Yüce in February, Amnesty International issued a statement saying that “Turkey now has the dubious honor of being the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, and free media in the country is in its death throes.”
Never one to be outdone, Trump allegedly asked then-FBI director James Comey to jail journalists, according to a New York Times report released on the same day as Erdoğan's visit to the White House. According to the Times’ sources, it was the very first thing Trump asked Comey, in their February meeting, even before asking him to drop the investigation of Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor who was also an agent of the Turkish state—without ever revealing it.
The White House has not commented on the attack of protesters by foreign security forces.
"I couldn’t believe that happened here in the U.S.," Arya said. "I know how racist [the Turkish security forces] are, how fascist they are, but I didn’t believe that happened here in the U.S. where we are protected by police. We are American citizens. My daughter she was born here. I am American too, you know. I still can’t believe it. We run from these guys in Kurdistan, came here to have a peaceful life, have a decent life."
Additional reporting by Brandon Soderberg
Something tells me it won't be the last time they causing more violence on your soil. Sure sucks if a protester was killed by one of them cause there won't be any justice.
