IF the best form of defense is attack, then Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a doughty defender. But sometimes the tactic raises difficult questions.
During his visit last week to Washington, there was a demonstration by Kurds outside the Turkish embassy in the US capital. Washington cops were keeping an eye on the protesters who by and large, judging from the footage shot by a numerous US TV crews, were noisy but unthreatening.
Then something remarkable happened. Smart-suited Turkish security men launched at some of the demonstrators, punching and kicking them to the ground. The US law officers were clearly taken by surprise. They had assumed that the Turkish presidential security detail were as disciplined as any other from a civilized country. It was apparent that though they quickly intervened to try and stop the Turkish agents assaulting demonstrators, they were uncertain of where they stood legally with people who clearly enjoyed diplomatic status.
Extraordinarily, this was not a rogue attack by a single security man, but by a whole group of them. And after some had been pulled off their victims by cops and pushed back toward the embassy, they launched back in, fists swinging and brightly polished boots kicking.
Even more extraordinarily, these beatings, which the police described as “brutal attacks” were being handed out in front of the world’s media. A US State Department spokesman described the conduct of the security personnel as deeply disturbing and said it had raised its concerns with Erdogan himself.
The Turkish president’s response has been to go on the attack. The US ambassador in Ankara has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be berated for the “aggressive and unprofessional actions” taken by US security personnel which were contrary to diplomatic rules and practices.
This, of course, is a row that President Trump would rather not have with a key NATO ally, not least in Washington’s fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq. But it may not be that easy to sweep the incident under the carpet. Turkey is demanding the US extradite Fethullah Gulen whom it accuses of being behind last year’s failed coup. The sour mood among US legislators is likely to make that even more difficult. Veteran Senator John McCain has even called for the Turkish ambassador to be expelled after last week’s Washington assaults on pro-Kurdish demonstrators.
Some might have expected Erdogan to seek to discipline those members of his security detail who were involved. At the very least, their behavior, seen by millions, did Turkey no credit at all. One can well imagine the uproar in Turkey if a US security detail lashed into protesters during a presidential visit to Ankara. But unfortunately the agents surrounding Erdogan have form when it comes to this conduct. In the past they have been filmed in Turkey beating up journalists and spectators, apparently without provocation.
If the presidential guards behave like Mafia hoodlums then the clear danger is that their boss will come to be regarded as a mobster chief. Erdogan’s long and remarkable political career is in danger of being tarnished by his increasingly autocratic and uncompromising behavior, the full force of which appears to have filtered down to those whose most important jobs ought to be keeping him safe from attack. As the footage showed, such an attack was never in prospect outside the embassy in Washington last week.
