Charges Have Been Dropped Against 11 Erdogan bodyguards Thugs in D.C. Clash

March 22, 2018 By administrator

A frame grab from a video shows clashes during a protest in Washington, D.C., last year. PHOTO: VOICE OF AMERICA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Dion Nissenbaum and Del Quentin Wilber,

WASHINGTON—(WSJ) Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against 11 of 15 members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security team who were accused in connection with the beating of protesters during their visit to Washington last year, the latest twist in a case that caused a diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Turkey.

The decision by the U.S. to prosecute the 15 men added to political strains as the Trump administration was trying to reset relations with Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State. The move to dismiss charges against most of them stands to ease one source of tension between Washington and Ankara.

Prosecutors first asked a judge in November to dismiss charges against four members of Mr. Erdogan’s security detail. Then they dropped charges against seven others on Feb. 14, the day before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew to Ankara for a meeting with Mr. Erdogan meant to ease tensions. Among those freed of legal jeopardy immediately before the high-level meeting was the head of Mr. Erdogan’s security team.

U.S. officials said that no one pressured prosecutors to drop any of the charges for political reasons. Instead, the decisions were the result of investigators misidentifying some of the suspects and failing to develop enough evidence against others, according to the U.S. officials and an attorney who provided some free legal advice to defendants in the case.

Mr. Tillerson, in his private talks with Turkish leaders, pointed to the decisions to drop charges—which hadn’t been publicized or announced—as an example of how the U.S. had addressed Mr. Erdogan’s grievances, according to administration officials familiar with the talks.

The administration’s efforts to reset relations with Turkey have been buffeted by a series of challenges, including the prosecution of the guards and a decision by President Donald Trump to directly arm Syrian Kurdish fighters that Turkey considers terrorists.

In January, Turkey launched a new military operation aimed at Kurdish forces in northwestern Syria. The U.S. criticized the move and warned Turkey not to turn its focus toward Kurdish fighters working alongside U.S. forces in the strategic Syrian town of Manbij.

The U.S. and Turkey have set up special teams that are trying to try to bridge their differences in Syria, but there are broad concerns that the efforts may not avert a volatile standoff in Syria, according to American military and diplomatic officials.

The charges against members of Mr. Erdogan’s security team were the outgrowth of a chaotic clash last May near the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington against demonstrators protesting the Turkish president’s visit.

Videos of the clashes showed men in suits with side arms punching and kicking demonstrators as Washington police and U.S. Secret Service officers tried to intervene.

At least nine demonstrators were hospitalized. One police officer and two members of the Secret Service were also injured.

U.S. lawmakers denounced the attack and some called on the Trump administration to expel Turkey’s ambassador. District of Columbia Police Chief Peter Newsham characterized it as an unprovoked and “brutal attack on peaceful protesters.”

Turkish officials accused protesters of attacking Mr. Erdogan’s supporters and blamed Washington police and the Secret Service for not doing enough to separate the two groups.

The police department produced large “wanted” posters featuring photographs of the Turkish security guards that they displayed at a news conference announcing the charges, which included felony assault for several members of the security detail.

Mr. Erdogan blasted the charges as “scandalous” and said his team was only trying to protect him. “Why would I take my guards to the United States if not to protect myself?” he said last June.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/charges-have-been-dropped-against-most-turkish-officers-in-d-c-clash-1521690922

US politicians want apology for brutal attack by Turkish President Erdogan’s bodyguards

July 21, 2017 By administrator

Erdogan bodyguards attack Americans are incensed by a brutal attack by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards on protesters even now, months later. Politicians joined the victims to express their outrage at a rally in Washington.

Two months after bodyguards in the service of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brutally attacked anti-Erdogan demonstrators in Washington, members of the US Congress joined victims of the attack in a “Stand for Free Speech” rally at Sheridan Circle in the capital. Five bipartisan members of Congress and about 50 protestors from Kurdish, Turkish and Armenian groups met in front of the Turkish ambassador’s residence to reaffirm their right to free speech and stand up for press freedom in Turkey.

“American soil is free soil,” Republican Congressman Ted Poe told the crowd. “The idea that a foreign tyrant can come to the USA and allow his goons to beat up Americans on American soil is preposterous. The Turkish government is responsible for this action.”

Read: Opinion: Germany is finally taking a tougher stance on Erdogan’s Turkey

Lucy Usoyan, founder and president of the Ezidi Relief Fund, a non-governmental organization that advocates for refugees in Kurdish regions of Turkey and Syria, is one of several anti-Erdogan protestors who were attacked on May 16. Usoyan was knocked unconscious, but was later able to identify a New Jersey man as one of her attackers. He has been charged with a hate crime, a classification of crime that increases penalties in sentencing.

Usoyan wants President Erdogan to apologize to US citizens for what his bodyguards did. “They must be held accountable,” said Usoyan. “They have to be extradited for prosecution and sentencing.”

Democratic Congressman John Sarbanes reiterated that freedom of speech is a fundamental part of democracy. “We want to remind Erdogan that in this country, we have a constitution that allows us to speak freely without fear of being beaten up,” Sarbanes said.

Attack made Americans take notice

“Freedom is something that people are born with, and Erdogan cannot simply take it away,” Usoyan added. Usoyan suffered a concussion and was hospitalized. She said she was glad the trials of the attackers were bringing attention to what she considered the bleak conditions of human rights and free speech in Turkey. She was shocked and horrified that this violent incident had to happen on US soil for people to notice.

In June, 18 arrest warrants were issued for alleged attackers, including a dozen for Turkish bodyguards, two for Turkish-Americans and two for Turkish-Canadians. In response to the May 16 melee, the German government indicated that Erdogan’s bodyguards would not be welcome at the G20 Summit in Hamburg.

One of the accused, a Turkish-American named Sinan Narin, is currently on trial in the District of Columbia for aggravated and misdemeanor assault. On his Facebook page, Turkish social media users have praised Narin as a “hero,” and said he was “defending” President Erdogan. The Turkish embassy’s Facebook page has since been filled with one-star reviews, with many users calling for expulsion of the Turkish ambassador to the United States.

The Turkish Embassy alleged that the demonstrators were associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Protestors denied this allegation.

This incident is not the first time that Erdogan’s bodyguards have found themselves in trouble in Washington. A Brookings Institute event in 2016 that featured Erdogan also ended with Erdogan’s bodyguards beating up Brookings staff and journalists.

Turkey’s relations with the US and the European Union have been strained for some time. Last year’s failed coup, the dire situation for journalists in Turkey, and Erdogan’s recent statement vowing to “behead” traitors, leave the country facing a turning point in its relationship with democracy, and with other nations.

Germany said on Thursday it was reorienting its relationship with Turkey after a court in Istanbul ordered six human rights activists, including a German man from Berlin, detained on suspicion of supporting terrorism. Turkey will face a further test next week, when parliament will vote on whether to authorize the death penalty.

Turning: Kim Kardashian was able to break its links and telephone his bodyguard

October 6, 2016 By administrator

kim-kardashian-robery The reality TV star Kim Kardashian, deflected and tied up in his Paris hotel by men who took away a booty estimated at nine million, could get rid of his bonds and call his bodyguard, did we Tuesday learned source close to the investigation.

According to preliminary investigations, “she undid his bonds and phoned 2:56 (0:56 GMT) at his bodyguard who was not present at the scene at the time of the attack,” the source said. Pascal Duvier, following the American star in many of his movements, “accompanied the sister of Kim Kardashian in a nightclub,” according to sources close to the dossier.

The robbery took place in the night from Sunday to Monday at 2:30 (0:30 GMT), in a discreet luxury hotel residence, the Hotel de Pourtales, near the Church of the Madeleine, in an upscale area of the French capital.

The five robbers, armed and masked, wearing police jackets. They hindered the night watchman, then three of them stayed to keep watch while the other two climbed into the apartments of the star, according to a source close to the investigation. They pointed a gun to his head, and then they locked her in the bathroom after having tied the hands and feet with tape and gagged you.

Besides the star and the night watchman, a stylist was also in the building. Investigators initially thought that it was she who gave the warning. No CCTV image sheds light on the investigation and the investigations of the technical and scientific police are continuing to search for traces DNA.

Saying “shocked” ultramédiatisée the star of 35 years was heard by the police on Monday morning before flying to New York.

According to a judicial source, the thieves stole a ring valued at four million euros and a jewelry box for the amount of five million, the largest jewelry robbery on a particular in France for over 20 years. Two mobile phones were also stolen.

The American star has a program to its name, “The Kardashians” and her husband, producer-rapper Kanye West, were cited in 2015 among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Alone, Kim Kardashian has earned in the past three years, $ 131 million in total, according to Forbes magazine website

Ecuador files note of protest with Turkey MFA over actions of Erdoğan’s bodyguards

February 7, 2016 By administrator

turks crime Interior Minister of Ecuador responded to the actions of Turkish presidential bodyguards during Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Ecuador.

Ecuador’s Interior Minister José Serrano Salgado admonished the conduct of Erdoğan’s bodyguards, demanding to withdraw their diplomatic passports.

With respect to the incident, the Interior Minister also filed a note of protest with the Turkish MFA.

On Saturday, the bodyguards of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan beat women, who staged a protest during Erdoğan’s speech.