Your trusted source

Turkey has complained to the United States over the indictment of Turkish security guards involved in a brawl during President Tayip Erdogan’s visit to Washington this year, Reuters reported.

“We are protesting in the strongest terms that a biased indictment is accepted. Our reaction to the topic has also been conveyed to the U.S. ambassador to Ankara,” the Turkish foreign ministry statement said, as quoted by the source.

To remind, a grand jury in the U.S. capital issued on Thursday indictments against 19 people, including 15 members of Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan’s security detail, for their brutal attack against peaceful protesters gathered in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., on May 16.

All 19 defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, with a bias crime enhancement—charges of hate crimes—which carry a maximum 15 years’ prison sentence. Many were indicted on additional charges.

Eleven people were hurt in what Washington’s police chief described as a brutal attack on peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Erdogan’s visit.