The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) shares video of Kurdish, Yezidi, and Armenian human rights protesters in Washington, D.C. being attacked by suspected members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security detail. Erdoğan met today with President Trump in the White House. The attack occurred in Sheridan Circle near the residence of the Turkish ambassador.
Sheridan Circle is also where former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier was assassinated with a car bomb in 1976 by members of the Chilean secret police on behalf of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Near where that bomb went off there is a memorial to Letelier and Ronni Moffitt of the Institute for Policy Studies, who was riding in the car with Letelier and also died from the blast. There are many embassies in the area.
Today’s attack against peaceful protesters, needless to say, is quite outrageous. Trump’s evident envy of dictators notwithstanding, America is a far cry from Turkey. We need to keep it that way.