The White House denies claims that President Trump apologized in a phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan over a violent brawl that involved Turkish security officers attacking peaceful protesters demonstrating against Mr. Erdogan’s visit to D.C.
“The topic was discussed. There was no apology,” White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters told CNN Wednesday.
In an interview with PBS Monday, Mr. Erdogan said the U.S. president had apologized to him for the violence that took place in May outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in D.C.
“I’m very sorry about that. Actually, President Trump called me about a week ago about this issue,” Mr. Erdogan told PBS’s Judy Woodruff. “He said that he was sorry, and he told me that he was going to follow up on this issue when we come to the United States within the framework of an official visit. The protesters were insulting us, and they were screaming and shouting. The police failed to intervene properly.”
Mr. Erdogan said that the protesters were terrorists and followers of the exiled educator and preacher Fethullah Gülen, a charge that D.C. police maintain is false.
“There is no indication these protesters were terrorists,” D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a June press conference.
Fifteen members of Mr. Erdogan’s security team, including the head of his security, were indicted by a grand jury on a range of assault charges. Two Canadian citizens were also indicted and two U.S. citizens are in jail awaiting a hearing for their involvement in the melee, in which nine people and one police officer were injured.
Video footage of the event shows Mr. Erdogan looking on as members of his security team and others attack protesters who had congregated in a park across the street to protest the president’s arrival and his policies towards Turkey’s Kurdish population.
In a press conference in June, D.C. Police Chief Newsham said the department did not have enough evidence to pursue any charges against the Turkish president.
Turkish-U.S. relations took an additional blow Monday as the Trump administration rescinded a deal to sell handguns and other weapons to Turkish presidential security forces, The Associated Press reported. The proposed deal had been announced before the violence outside the ambassador’s residence.
Mr. Erdogan told PBS the decision, as well as the fallout from the May brawl, are topics he’ll bring up Thursday when he meets with Mr. Trump at the U.N.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.