Washington, DC. The visit of Turkish President Erdogan went horribly bad, as his security detail attacked unarmed American protesters outside the Turkish embassy in Washington. A number of Americans were hurt before the local police stopped the unheard of violence by Turkish security forces.
There were nine people hurt and two arrests made during a huge fight at the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the US capital during a visit by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Washington Police have said. US State Department Diplomatic Security confirmed Erdoğan was inside the building at the time.
A Police Department spokesperson said the altercation broke out between two groups but he didn’t elaborate on the circumstances. He said two people were arrested, including one who was charged with assaulting a police officer. Two of those hurt were seriously injured and were taken to hospital by ambulance. Emergency personnel were called to the residence at about 4:30pm Tuesday.
The brawl erupted when the Turkish president’s security detail attacked protesters carrying the flag of the Kurdish PYD party outside the residence. After recently securing his grip on Turkey with a referendum to enhance his powers, Erdoğan came to the Oval Office with complaints about US support for Kurdish fighters and what Ankara says is Washington’s harbouring of the mastermind of a failed coup.
Earlier Trump and Erdoğan had stood side by side at the White House and promised to strengthen strained ties despite the pushy Turkish leader’s stern warning about Washington’s arming of a Kurdish militia.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to take the YPG-PYD into consideration as partners in the region, and it’s going against a global agreement we reached,” Erdoğan said, referring to the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units in Syria.
“In the same way, we should never allow those groups who want to change the ethnic or religious structures in the region to use terrorism as a pretext,” he added, suggesting that the Kurds were using the anti-Isis fight as cover for separatist nationalism.
While nobody was killed in the incident, it displays how the Turkish leader behaves as a guest in a foreign land. Erdogan can’t resist trying to destroy his opposition even in places he does not call home.