Turkey Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Security During Erdogan Visit

Competing accounts from U.S. and Turkish officials about violent confrontation

 Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest what it called “aggressive and unprofessional actions” by U.S. security toward Turkish bodyguards during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington last week.
.. Local police, U.S. lawmakers and demonstrators said members of Mr. Erdogan’s security detail took part in an unprovoked attack on protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington.The U.S. State Department said it summoned the Turkish ambassador last week to express its concern over the incident, which D.C. police, the Secret Service and the State Department are investigating.

The summoning of U.S. Ambassador John Bass on Monday added to Turkey’s challenges of the prevailing narrative in Washington by casting blame on U.S. security personnel for unprofessionalism outside the Turkish Embassy, as well as unspecified “lapses of security” throughout Mr. Erdogan’s visit.

..The ministry also condemned “the inability of U.S. authorities to take sufficient precautions at every stage of the official program.” A spokesman for the ministry declined to further specify Turkey’s complaints, pending the investigation it requested.

.. A narrative of the incident published by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the fight started after protesters threw water bottles at Turkish citizens.
.. The Turkish government cast the anti-Erdogan demonstrators as sympathizers with the PKK, the Kurdish separatist group classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Turkey.
.. “There is a big difference between freedom of expression and expression of solidarity with terrorism and terrorists,” Amb. Serdar Kilic said at a speech at the Trump Hotel to people gathered for a conference on U.S.-Turkey business relations. “We do not take it as freedom of expression, it’s expression of solidarity with terrorism.”
.. said Americans were “concerned and disturbed” by the violence.
..“It is important to note that, in the United States, such protests are legal, protected and customary,” Mr. Shannon told the same business conference, where he sat next to the Turkish ambassador during the lunch. “In this regard, we found the attack to be deplorable and lacking in the respect for our laws that we expect from visitors.”