District braces for planned visit by Turkish President Erdogan

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Washington police and the State Department are bracing for the planned visit by Turkish President Erdogan after troubling antics and discord -- including some that haven't been previously disclosed -- during his 2017 visit to DC, from @phscoop

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New details about the violence that accompanied Erdogan when the Turkish leader visited DC in 2017: "A Turkish security officer punched a D.C. officer in the nose, 'causing massive blood flow.'"

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[IronLionZion]

1. "The Turkish guards left the country before criminal charges were filed."

If their security guards are going to get violent, DC police should arrest them on the spot like any other violent criminals and actually charge them with crimes and hold them for trial.

Video of the following day’s altercations at Sheridan Circle captured Turkish security guards outside the ambassador’s residence ignoring police commands and breaking through their lines. It shows them ripping posters, tackling and kicking people in the crowd, and fighting with police who struggled to maintain order. A 61-year-old man suffered a concussion and lost a tooth when he was kicked and beaten in the head, according to an account in the civil suit. A woman was attacked while pushing her child in a stroller.

Authorities detained two Turkish officers, putting at least one in handcuffs and seizing his weapon as authorities debated whether to make arrests and discussed the legal complexities of diplomatic immunity. The security officers were later freed and the gun returned as the men boarded the airplane home later that night. One memo says the Turkish ambassador had pleaded for the officers’ release from custody “by ‘looking past’ what had happened.”