Two Canadians are among 16 people charged by the Washington DC Metropolitan Police for their alleged role in a vicious attack on peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence last month.
Canadians of Turkish origin Mahmut Sami Ellialti and Ahmet Cengizham Dereci are facing several charges, including aggravated assault, assault with significant bodily injury and threatened assault in a menacing manner, Washington DC police chief Peter Newsham said Thursday.
Dereci’s Facebook page shows him to be the owner-operator of Senoz Electric Inc. on Winston Park Boulevard in Toronto.
Law enforcement agencies had identified most of the people who assaulted peaceful protesters during the demonstration on May 16, including nine Turkish security officials and three Turkish police officers, Newsham said.
The police chief urged all the suspects charged by the police to turn themselves in and face justice in the United States.
“I think that they need to come and they need to answer for what they are responsible for,” Newsham said.
‘Vicious attack’
Video of the incident clearly shows armed members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail dressed in dark suits cross the street in front of the residence and physically assault a small group of peaceful pro-Kurdish protesters.
Video shot from another angle appears to show the Turkish president getting out of a limo, looking at the protesters and speaking to one of his bodyguards just prior to the attack. That bodyguard then appears to co-ordinate with some of his colleagues before launching what Washington’s police chief called an “unprovoked” attack on the demonstrators.
State Department officials will be working on trying to bring Turkish security officials charged in the incident to face justice in the U.S., Newsham said.
But there was “no probable cause” to seek the arrest of Erdogan, who was seen watching the brawl from inside the parked limo after meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
Diplomatic incident
The incident, which injured nine protesters, further inflamed tensions between Washington and Ankara.
U.S. Senator John McCain, the influential chair of the Senate armed services committee, called for Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. to be removed from the country.
The House committee on foreign affairs echoed the senators’ call in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“Alarmingly, this behavior is indicative of the broad crackdowns on political activists, journalists and religious freedom in Turkey that have greatly harmed Turkish democracy in recent years,” the letter said.
‘Assault on the First Amendment’
“I condemn this attack, it was an affront to our values as Washingtonians and as Americans, and it was clear assault on the First Amendment,” Bowser told reporters Thursday.
“As Americans the First Amendment grants us the right to assemble and protest peacefully.”
Bowser said the U.S. capital hosts millions of people “who come to the seat of their government to protest peacefully.”
“We support them to make sure they are safe but we also make sure they follow our laws,” she said.
Anyone travelling to the U.S. will be held to the same standard, Bowser said.
With files from Evan Dyer of CBC News
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