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    Categories: 2021

US appeals court rejects Turkey’s attempt to dismiss lawsuit against Erdogan bodyguards

Panorama, Armenia
July 29 2021

A US district appeals court in Washington, D.C., has rejected Turkish government motions to dismiss two lawsuits filed by protesters who were attacked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan security guards in May 2017, Turkish Minute reported on Wednesday, citing local media.

The cases against Erdogan's guards stem from an altercation on May 16, 2017, outside the residence of the Turkish ambassador in Washington. Demonstrators, mostly ethnic minorities of Kurdish and Yazidi descent, protesting the policies of the Turkish president were attacked by his bodyguards during a visit by — and within view of — Erdogan.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday decided to allow both cases filed on behalf of over a dozen plaintiffs, the victims of Erdogan's bodyguards’ attack, to proceed, upholding the district court’s decision of February 2020 that Turkey isn’t entitled to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Turkey alleges that the demonstrators posed an imminent threat to Erdogan’s safety, but video footage shows Turkish authorities and pro-Erdogan supporters running to attack the protestors, surrounding women and elderly men while punching, kicking and throwing them to the ground.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS