Foreign Affairs
Feds Drop Charges Against Most Turkish Bodyguards Involved In DC Melee
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Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against most members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail who were involved in a violent crackdown on protesters outside the residence of Turkey’s ambassador in Washington last year.
Since November, prosecutors have quietly stopped pursuing criminal cases against 11 of the 15 bodyguards who were accused in connection with the brawl, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Department of Justice did not announce or publicize the decisions to drop charges.
Prosecutors first asked a judge in November to dismiss charges against four of Erdogan’s bodyguards. Then, they dropped charges against an additional seven members of the detail on Feb. 14, in advance of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Anakara to meet with Erdogan over rising tensions with Washington.
The U.S. attorney’s office is reportedly still pursuing criminal charges against four of the Turkish bodyguards, as well as two Canadian citizens, who were involved in the clash. None of those people have been arrested.
The diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Turkey opened in May, when bodyguards working on Erdogan’s personal detail and for the Turkish embassy stormed a group of peaceful demonstrators who had gathered to protest the authoritarian leader. Turkish security staff viciously punched and kicked protesters as Secret Service and Washington police tried to restore order.
The unprovoked beatdown sent nine demonstrators to the hospital, and a D.C. police officer and two Secret Service agents were also injured. Ultimately, a total of 19 people were indicted in connection with the assault: 15 bodyguards, two Turkish-Canadians supporters of Erdogan, and two Turkish-American men who participated in the attack. The Turkish-Americans pleaded guilty in December to felony assault charges and are awaiting sentencing.
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In the aftermath of the melee, Turkey accused the U.S. of using the prosecutions as a political tool to pressure Erdogan’s government. Trump administration officials were outraged that Turkish bodyguards, some of whom claimed diplomatic immunity, were able to assault peaceful demonstrators with impunity.
The diplomatic standoff soured the already fraught relationship between Washington and the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan regime. Tillerson, in his private meetings with Turkish officials, pointed to the decisions to drop charges against the bodyguards as evidence the U.S. was willing to compromise with its critical NATO ally.
Still, relations have arguably worsened since January, when Turkey launched a military incursion into a Kurdish-held province in northern Syria. The Trump administration has criticized Turkey’s offensive, which is directed at U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, as a harmful distraction from the fight to eradicate ISIS from Syrian territory.
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