Washington —
Jumping into an international thicket while sidestepping questions over diplomatic immunity, Mayor Muriel Bowser called the May 16 melee outside the ambassador’s residence on Sheridan Circle a “vicious attack” and an “affront to our values.”
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said dignitaries and protesters take to District streets nearly every day, but “rarely have I seen in 28 years of policing the type of thing I saw in Sheridan Circle,” he said.
Newsham read the names of each suspect to a room packed with media. Around him were placards with the word “Wanted” in red and photographs of the suspects. The men were identified, with the help of the State Department, by matching surveillance video from the fight to entry visas and passports. All are charged with various degrees of assault.
Erdogan, speaking in Ankara on Thursday, blasted the D.C. police. “They have issued arrest warrants for 12 of my bodyguards. What kind of law is this?” the president said, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency. “If my bodyguards cannot protect me then why am I bringing them to America with me?”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador after the charges were announced and said in a statement that the decision “lacks legal basis.”
It remains uncertain whether any of the suspects — members of the president’s formal security force, guards and Turkish police officers — will ever stand trial in the United States. Some of them had holstered handguns as they fought with demonstrators.
All returned to Turkey in the days after the visit, and Newsham referred questions about immunity and extradition to the State Department. The chief said he did know whether the United States has made a formal request for the guards to surrender, but he urged that they do so voluntarily.
Newsham said the guards would be arrested “if they attempt to enter the United States.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement the charges send “a clear message that the United States does not tolerate individuals who use intimidation and violence to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate political expression.”
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert would not say whether that meant the United States would seek extradition.
“Our actions will be responsive and proportional to the charges,” she said, while promising that the suspects will be “held accountable.”
The demonstrations occurred during Erdogan’s visit to the White House and started on Pennsylvania Avenue, where a minor skirmish forced the Secret Service to separate Erdogan supporters and detractors. The group then moved to Sheridan Circle on Massachusetts Avenue, outside the ambassador’s residence in Northwest Washington.