-
@NTA Could be, but if you look in the twitter comments at least one one other news organisation asked to be able to use the footage and they said it was fine as long as they got credit for it. I'm surprised CNN, Guardian, Washpo, NYT et al haven't jumped all over it. Surely it would be a great way to call Trump out for having relations with this tyrant. I guess its possible VOA have denied them access.
My conspiracy brain is thinking leftist outlets are holding off until Trumps reaction as he could very easily call it out for what it is and the last thing these outlets want to do is agree with Trump. I really have no faith anymore.
-
The State Department is working with Washington, D.C. police and the U.S. Secret Service to identify the bodyguards working for Turkey’s president who beat up protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
The melee left at least nine protesters injured and generated intense backlash against Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“We will continue to work with our partners at the United States State Department and United States Secret Service to identify and hold all subjects accountable for their involvement in the altercation,” reads a statement from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
The department said that Tuesday’s violence stands “in contrast to the First Amendment rights and principles we work tirelessly to protect each and every day.”
In a press conference on Wednesday, DC police chief Peter Newsham said that investigators “have a good idea of some of the folks” involved in the violence.
Newsham added that “a diplomatic immunity issue” could arise in the case since registered diplomats are generally protected from prosecution in criminal cases. But Newsham added that “we are going to pursue everything that’s in our legal power” as part of the investigation.
The State Department said in a statement that it is communicating its concern to the Turkish government “in the strongest possible terms.”
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,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
Video footage of the incident shows men wearing suits clashing with a group of about two dozen Armenian and Kurdish protesters who oppose Erdogan, who was in town to visit with President Trump.
Erdogan had just finished his meeting with Trump when the melee ensued. The authoritarian ruler then went to the ambassador’s residence to meet in a closed session with members of the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C. think tank that receives donations from Turkey.
Footage showed that Washington, D.C. police struggled to contain the violence. At least two people were arrested, though it is not clear whether they were supporters or opponents of Erdogan.
Some of the attackers Tuesday were seen kicking protesters in the head, leaving them covered in blood. One man required stitches on his head, and a woman who was beaten underwent a CT scan, a witness told The Daily Caller.
Victim of fight outside Turkish ambassador’s residence. (Image courtesy Aram Suren Hamparian)
That witness, Aram Suren Hamparian, also captured footage of the attacks. He told The Daily Caller that the pro-Erdogan side appeared to be professional security forces.
“It all took place at once. It was by very capable people. It felt to me, it looked to me like a highly orchestrated attack,” said Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Hamparian is highly critical of the Turkish government due to its refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide of a century ago.
The actions of Erdogan’s security forces is not a surprise to many observers of Turkish politics. Erdogan has led a nationwide crackdown against critics of his regime. Thousands have been jailed and tens of thousands more have been forced from their jobs, often based on hazy allegations of having ties to terrorist groups.
Erdogan’s bodyguards were involved in a similar incident during a visit to Washington, D.C. last March. The bodyguards verbally and physically assaulted a group of anti-Erdogan journalists outside of an event hosted by the Brookings Institution.
A social media campaign began on Wednesday to identify the Erdogan bodyguards involved in the brawl. #ArrestErdogansBodyguards features still images of video footage of the bodyguards beating protesters.
Some U.S. lawmakers called out Erdogan following Tuesday’s incident.
Frederick Kempe, the CEO of the Atlantic Council, condemned Tuesday’s violence.
“The Atlantic Council strongly condemns the violence that occurred involving protestors and Turkish security personnel Tuesday evening outside an event that the Council was co-hosting for Turkish President Erdoğan,” Kempe said in a statement.
“The proper authorities will determine what, if any, actions should be taken against those who instigated the violence. Such behavior only detracts from the Council’s foundational mission of promoting constructive US leadership alongside friends and allies to secure the future.”
-
This has to be Trump's fault surely.
-
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Erdogan in the US:
This has to be Trump's fault surely.
For invbiting a brutal dictator who has imprisoned anyone who disagrees with him & jailed reporters? Next you'll be saying inviting Duterte to the white house is a bad move too. Still his agressive condemnation of the attack was welcome
On the flip side it appears the Washington cops don't give a shit about politics, much like the rest of US law enforcement thankfully.
-
Trouble with this stuff is that the Turks (or whoever, like say, France in 1987), drag their feet and perhaps, just perhaps, stump up some patsy and say he's/they've been punished and then it all dies away again
Despot studies 101 - take no shit from anyone and pretend to placate the paymaster. Eerdogan won't give two stuffs about this
-
@gollum said in Erdogan in the US:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Erdogan in the US:
This has to be Trump's fault surely.
For invbiting a brutal dictator who has imprisoned anyone who disagrees with him & jailed reporters? Next you'll be saying inviting Duterte to the white house is a bad move too. Still his agressive condemnation of the attack was welcome
On the flip side it appears the Washington cops don't give a shit about politics, much like the rest of US law enforcement thankfully.
It's straight out bizzare to pin this on anyone other than the thugs who perpetrated it and the people organising them.
-
@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Erdogan in the US:
@NTA said in Erdogan in the US:
@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Erdogan in the US:
They should be prosecuted, but they likely wont be, but they wouldnt have been under Obama, Bush or Clinton either.
Besides the general diplomatic immunity around these types of events, you mean?
I assume they cannot all have that.
If they have entered the country on diplomatic passports then by default they are afforded dip status under the Vienna Convention. It is usual for the entourage around a leader to travel on dip passports.
The local cops would probably have been made aware of this when sent to the protest and although it doesn't mean they gave Erdogan's guys a free reign it would have probably confused their dealing with the situation.
Cops don't usually know the ins and outs of the Vienna convention, they just know it exists and look to their superiors for advice while being careful not to cross any lines.
I'm not sure of the layout of where that took place but the police are not allowed to cross the boundary premise of a dip mission and are obliged to protect it.
Shit position for these cops to be in and I would think plenty of them were just as disgusted by what was happening as watchers of the video are. It wasn't expected and they certainly weren't prepared for it.
All Trump can do is tell Erdogan he is highly pissed off and erdogan will likely shrug his shoulders. -
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
@gollum Yes, you were banned for that, you had already been warned. It was discussed at the time and you were on your last warning for such behavior, it is a blatantly dishonest method of discussing a topic and derails entire discussions, you have done this on numerous occasions to numerous people and the moderators got sick of it.
You will continue to be banned if you continue to do it. If you want to apportion a position to someone, quote them.
Others dont have to be so careful because nobody else has a track record of using such dishonesty as a debate tool.
All future posts about your discussing moderation on the fern will also be removed, as has always been the policy. -
@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Erdogan in the US:
All future posts about your discussing moderation on the fern will also be removed, as has always been the policy.
I just deleted all of the off topic bollocks
-
This post is deleted!
-
Heard a comment today by Chris Ryan and Mike Shermer musing that in these more recent secular times that politics in the US has replaced the role of religion in terms of polarising people and the lengths folks will go to get their point across.
I think it rings true in that: "My politician/god is better than your politician/god because I say so...yadda yadda yadda"
Particularly apt when comparing same god religions like catholics and protestants etc (I think they have the same core god don't they?)Got me to thinking what are people trying to prove....?
-
@Siam said in Erdogan in the US:
Heard a comment today by Chris Ryan and Mike Shermer musing that in these more recent secular times that politics in the US has replaced the role of religion in terms of polarising people and the lengths folks will go to get their point across.
I think it rings true in that: "My politician/god is better than your politician/god because I say so...yadda yadda yadda"
Particularly apt when comparing same god religions like catholics and protestants etc (I think they have the same core god don't they?)Got me to thinking what are people trying to prove....?
Virtue Signalling.
Erdogan in the US