Recep Tayyip Erdogan
House leaders condemned Turkish security forces’ recent attack on peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence, spurring a bipartisan resolution that cleared the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday.
The situation unfolded on May 16 outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., during a visit from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The resolution, H. Res. 354, states that after hours of peaceful protest, “violence erupted when pro-Erdogan supporters and individuals from the Turkish Embassy grounds pushed past District of Columbia police officers to brutally attack the demonstrators.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced H. Res. 354, which also called for perpetrators to be brought to justice “and measures taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
At least 11 people were seriously hurt in the attack.
“The violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Turkish security forces was completely indefensible, and the Erdogan government’s response was wholly inadequate,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said. “Turkey is an important NATO ally, but its leaders must fully condemn and apologize for this brutal behavior against innocent civilians exercising their First Amendment rights. In the meantime, we stand fully committed to helping bring all those responsible to justice.”
Ryan thanked Royce, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the committee’s ranking member, and all members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for taking swift action on the issue.
Two armed Turkish security officers were detained for assaulting federal agents at the scene, but were released because they had derived head of state immunity. The resolution notes that ”the Department of State did not request that Turkey waive immunity for these two security officers in order to fully investigate the assault prior to their being released from custody.”
McCarthy, Royce, Engel and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said in a joint statement that they introduced the resolution on Wednesday to make clear that an unprovoked attack on peaceful protesters by Turkish security forces on American soil must not go unanswered, and that those responsible must be brought to justice.
“The attack last week against the protesters fell into a pattern of similar behavior by the Erdogan government and sent a dangerous message that this ideology of suppression has a place among the NATO powers, an alliance built to protect democracy and basic rights against those who would impose the opposite upon the world,” the lawmakers said. ”We must dispel that notion entirely and make it clear that the United States rejects any and all attempts to deny people the right to raise their voices against those in power through nonviolent means.”
An ongoing criminal investigation of the incident is being led by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, the Secret Service and the State Diplomatic Security Service.