Germany Warns Turkish Guards Accused Of Assaulting D.C. Protesters To Not Attend G-20
The bodyguards of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who face U.S. charges over clashes with protesters in Washington, D.C., won’t be welcome at next week’s G-20 summit in Hamburg, German officials say.
Turkish officials named 50 people, including some named in U.S. arrest warrants, who were scheduled to accompany Erdogan to the summit in northern Germany, German media reported. But German officials made it clear that members of the Turkish security personnel facing U.S. assault charges could not attend the Group of 20 meetings, Deutsche Welle and Die Welt reported.
“Some foreign security services of the Turkish delegation did not abide by the law and therefore those people are not welcome in Germany for the foreseeable future,” Germany’s foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Monday, according to CNN.
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany told Die Welt that foreign powers do not hold sovereign powers; they “only have the right to self-defense.” Hamburg Sen. Andy Grote said to the paper that “on our streets, only the Hamburg police have a say and no one else. This includes foreign security forces.”
Organizers expect thousands to protest the Group of 20 meetings on July 6 and 7. And German intelligence officials told Die Welt they’re concerned about street battles between Turkish nationalists and members of Germany’s Kurdish community ― some of whom support the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been placed on a terrorism blacklist by Turkey and some of its allies.
Washington, D.C., prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 12 Turkish security personnel and police officers on suspicion of assaulting protesters, after video emerged of violent clashes outside the Turkish ambassador’s house last month.
The protests occurred after Erdogan met with President Donald Trump in the White House. Erdogan was shown on video sitting in his limousine across the street from the demonstration as during the incident.
Erdogan blasted the charges against his personnel, saying that they were simply protecting him from protesters. All of the bodyguards named in the arrest warrants are back in Turkey and likely won’t face trial, according to legal experts.
Related.Coverage
Video May Show The Order That Sent Erdogan's Guards To Beat Up U.S. Protesters
Turkey Blames U.S. For Violence It Helped Spark At D.C. Protest
House Panel Demands Justice In 'Savage' Attack On Protesters By Erdogan Guards
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