“We can confirm that Ambassador Kilic was summoned to the State Department and met with Under Secretary [Thomas] Shannon on Wednesday,” a State Department representative told NBC News Thursday.
State Department officials also confirmed that two members of Erdogan’s security detail were temporarily detained after Tuesday’s attack on Kurdish, Armenian, and Yazidi protesters. However, international law forbade D.C. Metropolitan police and federal law enforcement from arresting the Turkish attackers. Heads of state and their entire entourage are protected under the umbrella of diplomatic immunity. As members of Erdogan’s security detail, most of the attackers were able to safely retreat to the Turkish embassy compound after viciously beating down protesters and police. The other two attackers detained were released shortly after being taken in.
As The Daily Wire reported Thursday, recently-released video evidence appears to show the Turkish president personally ordering the attack on the protesters clearly assembled on U.S. soil. In the video, Erdogan is shown stepping out of his tinted black Mercedes-Benz, parked at the residence of the Turkish ambassador, and calmly watching as his bodyguards step outside of the embassy compound and enter U.S. soil outside to choke women, shove police, and punch young men.
Watching the video, one would be forgiven for thinking that the scenes depicted are occurring in Istanbul or Ankara, where Erdogan’s regime has brutally cracked down on dissent in all-out purge campaign to turn the once semi-secular Republic of Turkey into a totalitarian Islamist state led by a neo-Ottoman sultan.
It’s important to note that President Erdogan met with President Trump on the same day as the attack against protesters on U.S. soil. During the meeting, Trump and Erdogan warmly exchanged compliments, smiling and flattering each other with relative ease.
“Turkish courage in war is legendary,” cheered Trump.
The 2016 U.S. election was a “legendary triumph,” Erdogan said, returning the favor.
But despite President Trump’s diplomatic posturing early Tuesday, the State Department responded strongly to the seemingly criminal behavior of Erdogan’s thugs following reports of the violent incident against protesters in D.C.
In a statement released Wednesday, the State Department relayed its concern to the Turkish government “in the strongest possible terms.”
“Violence is never an appropriate response to free speech, and we support the rights of people everywhere to free _expression_ and peaceful protest,” the statement reads, highlighting Turkey’s gross violation of free speech rights in the United States and alluding to the Erdogan government’s purge campaign against political opposition members and dissidents in Turkey.
In response to the State Department’s palpable concerns and the chorus of condemnation by both U.S. lawmakers calling for criminal charges to be brought against the members of Erdogan’s entourage involved in the attack, the Turkish embassy in D.C. released a defiant and unapologetic letter blaming the victims of the attack.
“The violence and the injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration,” said the Turkish embassy in a statement that directly contradicts all available video evidence.
Ultimately, nine people were hospitalized as a result of the thuggish behavior of Turkey’s security forces.
This diplomatic row between the two NATO allies may only got worse depending on the Turkish ambassador’s response to his summoning by the State Department.