Posted: May 27, 2017 1:28 am
During and shortly after a recent visit of the Turkish PM and Ambassador to the US in the Oval Office, people, including US and Turkish Kurds, protested Turkey's human rights record.
Bodyguards for the PM and Ambassador, some of them with diplomatic delegation ID badges, and acting at least in part under the direct orders of the PM's head of security, assaulted multiple protesters - whom they outnumbered more than two to one, with assaults featuring multiple protesters down on the ground in a semi-fetal defensive posture while the bodyguards repeatedly kicked them in the torso, neck and head. Frequently three or four bodyguards were seen simultaneously kicking one downed protester.
Turkish authorities complained that they'd been "attacked" (there is no supporting evidence for this claim) and that they only acted defensively (there is a massive quantity of evidence utterly refuting this assertion).
Every single one of these Turkish diplomats and bodyguards should be immediately expelled from the US, and be declared Persona Non Grata for life.
Violent suppression of peaceful protest may fucking be de rigeur in Turkey - but it doesn't wash here.
Read and view this presentation by the NY Times - it is really quite damning.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/26/us/turkey-protesters-attack-video-analysis.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Bodyguards for the PM and Ambassador, some of them with diplomatic delegation ID badges, and acting at least in part under the direct orders of the PM's head of security, assaulted multiple protesters - whom they outnumbered more than two to one, with assaults featuring multiple protesters down on the ground in a semi-fetal defensive posture while the bodyguards repeatedly kicked them in the torso, neck and head. Frequently three or four bodyguards were seen simultaneously kicking one downed protester.
Turkish authorities complained that they'd been "attacked" (there is no supporting evidence for this claim) and that they only acted defensively (there is a massive quantity of evidence utterly refuting this assertion).
Every single one of these Turkish diplomats and bodyguards should be immediately expelled from the US, and be declared Persona Non Grata for life.
Violent suppression of peaceful protest may fucking be de rigeur in Turkey - but it doesn't wash here.
Read and view this presentation by the NY Times - it is really quite damning.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/26/us/turkey-protesters-attack-video-analysis.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0