WASHINGTON — A total of 19 people, including 15 identified as Turkish security officials, were indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in the U.S. capital for attacking protesters in May during a U.S. visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The indictments accuse the defendants of attacking peaceful demonstrators who had gathered May 16 outside the home of the Turkish ambassador, awaiting Erdogan’s arrival after he met with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The case threatens to further complicate already tense relations between the two NATO allies. Ankara strongly opposes the U.S. decision to arm Syrian Kurdish rebels fighting the Islamic State extremist group in Syria. Turkey views the Syrian Kurds as an extension of its own outlawed Turkish Kurdish movement and opposes any moves that could lead to the formation of an independent Kurdish state.
The 19 defendants each faces a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, a felony. Several face additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Sixteen of the defendants already were charged June 13; Tuesday’s indictment adds three new defendants, all Turkish security officials. Two of the defendants were arrested in June and face an initial court hearing Sept. 7. The rest remain at large.
Several are members of Erdogan’s security detail who returned with him to Turkey, so it is unclear if any will face legal repercussions in the U.S.
Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said at the time that Erdogan’s security team moved in to disperse the protesters because “police did not heed to Turkish demands to intervene.”