OPINION — Editorial

Not how it's done here

When in Rome, or even Washington …

Last summer, when a coup d'etat failed in Turkey, our friends in the government therein decided to take a few simple measures to prevent a similar episode later.

In the following months, the government arrested more than 100 generals and admirals. Thousands of other soldiers of lower ranks were cast into prison, too.

The government sent 2,745 judges to jail. They weren't just fired, or sent to appear before some judicial ethics commission. Those 2,745 judges went to jail.

Tens of thousands of government employees were fired, too.

The Ministry of National Education suspended 15,200 teachers. And the licenses of 21,000 teachers were torn up. The government also shut down 1,043 private schools.

For good measure, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's people also shuttered 16 TV stations, 23 radio stations and 45 newspapers.

That's how they do things in Turkey.

Citizens, employees and media in Turkey don't have certain protections. Such as the United States Constitution. If you take to the streets to protest a government policy there, you have a good shot of spending the night as a guest of the government--on a cot with bars on the windows.

So it shouldn't have been surprising when bodyguards for Turkey's president beat the daylights out of protesters the other day. What was surprising is that the beatings took place in Washington, D.C.

Turkey is an ally, of some standing, of the United States. And not an unimportant one. Turkey is a member of NATO. The United States is trying to help it become a member of the EU. Turkey cooperates with the United States in the ongoing (and going and going) war against terrorists. And its location makes Turkey an especially strategic ally.

But none of that means its government thugs can start a brawl on an American street.

The video is all over the Internet, and everybody knew it would be. These days, every phone's a camera, and everybody's a cameraman.

Well-dressed men in suits and ties, all working in the security detail of the president of Turkey, apparently took offense at protesters outside the Turkish embassy just off Massachusetts Avenue NW, one of Washington D.C.'s nicest embassy-filled neighborhoods. (The embassy of Greece and Indonesia and Haiti are just down the street. Over the way, there's Japan's and India's.)

Maybe the folks at the other foreign stations could explain something to the Turks: That's not the way it's done in America.

We're not sure what was the insult that set off the bodyguards, but they waded into the protesters. Older people hit the ground during the melee, and the well-dressed men, most with mustaches and sunglasses, kicked them in the face. And didn't even seem bothered by those recording the scuffle on their phones.

Nine people were left on the ground bleeding. And although two people were arrested when the cops got there, none of those people were Turkish bodyguards.

The Turkish government did what the Turkish government does: It blamed the protesters. It said, without providing proof, that the protesters were associated with terrorists. And issued a statement: "The violence and injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration."

Note to the Turks: Demonstrations in the United States are often unpermitted and provocative. It's called the freedom of assembly and speech. It's in the very first amendment to our Constitution in something we call the Bill of Rights. When in America, do as the Americans do.

Leave it to our State Department to do not much. It issued a statement the next day that the U.S. was "communicating our concern to the Turkish government in the strongest possible terms." Thanks, that oughtta do it.

As far as charging the bodyguards with something like assault and battery, a retired New York police sergeant and current professor, Joseph Giacalone, says don't count on it. He told NBC news that foreign security details are often times protected by the same diplomatic immunity giving to their country's leader. A potential complaint against these bodyguards/thugs? "It's going nowhere," he said.

The protest, and the beatings that followed, came only hours after Turkey's president met with our own. The next time these two leaders of allied nations get together, we expect the man who wrote The Art of the Deal to parlay a bit. After all, the United States is a friend to Turkey, too. And remember that help involving the EU.

Now then, an apology is in order.

In this country, as long as they're not hurting anybody, protesters protest. And are allowed to. Siccing bodyguards on them is considered poor form.

This ain't Turkey.

Editorial on 05/22/2017

Upcoming Events