USA: Supreme Court slaps Turkey for attack by Erdogan’s “thugs”.

The US Supreme Court today denied Turkey’s request to dismiss two appeals filed by protesters seeking damages after they accused Turkish security forces of injuring them during a 2017 demonstration in Washington which coincided with a visit by President Tayyip Erdogan.

The judges rejected Turkey’s appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the process to go ahead, rejecting the ally’s argument in NATO that he has immunity from such legal action in the United States under a federal law (Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act);

At issue in the proceedings is a scuffle involving members of Erdogan’s security that occurred as crowds protested outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington on May 6, 2017. Erdogan was in the US capital to meet then-President Donald Trump. The incident increased the tension in relations between Turkey and the United States.

Two lawsuits were filed in 2018 — one by 15 plaintiffs and the other by five — seeking to hold the Turkish government accountable and seeking monetary damages for injuries including concussions, seizures and broken teeth. The plaintiffs were seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages, according to court documents.

The law Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act limits the jurisdiction of US courts to suits against foreign governments.

Turkey blamed protesters linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The police chief in the US capital called the incident a “brutal attack” on peaceful protesters.

Assault charges have been brought in Washington against several Turkish security agents and others involved. Two of the defendants — who were not members of Erdogan’s security team — pleaded guilty. Prosecutors dropped the charges against 11 agents in 2018.

President Joe Biden’s administration had urged the Supreme Court to reject Turkey’s appeal, saying that when a foreign country’s security personnel use force in ways unrelated to protecting officials from bodily harm, they are acting outside the legal protections afforded them.

Lower courts rejected her request Turkey. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Columbia ruled in 2021 that while members of the Turkish security contingent had the right to protect Erdogan, their actions in this incident did not qualify for that exemption.

Turkey had argued that a failure by the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling would threaten to disrupt US foreign relations and “invite a retaliatory undermining of immunity for US security agents who protect US presidents, diplomats and [αμερικανικές] missions abroad”.

RES-EMP

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