Sultan Erdogan Brought His Goons to Brookings Inst.

2 Comments

1. 

   Marie3 on March 31, 2016 at 5:53 pm

   Not all his enemies are good guys, (from the linked Atlantic article):

   Exhibit A in this crackdown is Zaman, the country’s largest newspaper, which is closely linked to Fethullah Gulen, the influential U.S.-based cleric and former ally of Erdogan whom the Turkish president now views as the head of a terrorist movement. Earlier this month, a Turkish court–without providing a reason–placed Zaman under state control, effectively turning an opposition newspaper into a pro-government publication overnight.

2. 

   Oui on April 1, 2016 at 12:27 am

   Turkish journalists in clashes with bodyguards during Erdoğan’s US visit | The Guardian |

   Turkish journalists have accused Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security detail of kicking, shoving and verbally abusing them on Thursday in an attempt to bar them from a Washington DC thinktank where the president was giving a speech.

   A source close to the event at the Brookings Institution told the Guardian that it was close to canceling the president’s appearance until the Turkish embassy intervened and persuaded the bodyguards to back down.

   The fracas in the heart of the US capital made for a rocky start for Erdoğan, who stands accused of cracking down on freedom of the press in Turkey, as he attends a nuclear security summit hosted by Barack Obama.

   Adem Arslan, 42, a journalist at the newly launched liberal daily Özgür Düşünce, said he had pre-registered to attend the speech and was in the lobby speaking to Brookings’ foreign policy communications director Gail Chalef. “While we were talking, Erdoğan’s guy came over and threatened me and tried to kick me out,” he recalled.

   “Gail told them, `He’s a journalist and we invited him’. Erdoğan’s guards said they didn’t care and verbally and physically attacked me. They grabbed me and pushed me out of the building and forced me across the street.”

   Arslan claims he was further harassed, but eventually Brookings staff told him he would be allowed into an overflow room. But even then, he said, Erdoğan’s bodyguards attempted to remove him for a second time, only to be blocked by an American security officer who offered him protection.

   “They accosted me with bad language. One of them said, `We are going to kill you because you are a traitor.’ They think I am a CIA agent because I am not a supporter of Erdoğan,” Arslan said.

   …

   One of Erdoğan’s security officers aimed a chest-high kick at an American reporter attempting to film their actions, according to Agence France-Presse. The skirmishes took place in a public area of the city, not at the Turkish embassy, yet US law enforcement officials did little to help, witnesses said.

   Emre Uslu, 41, a Turkish journalist at Today’s Zaman newspaper, which was seized earlier this month by the Turkish government, said he was kicked so hard in the knee that it bled and he was unable to attend the event.

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