20 May 2017•Update: 21 May 2017
TORONTO
A man injured in this week’s brawl outside Turkey’s Embassy in Washington, D.C. said that media coverage of the incident tried to inaccurately paint supporters of the terrorist PKK as the victims.
Alp Kenan Dereci, a dual Turkish/Canadian citizen whose head was injured by PKK supporters during President Recep Erdogan's May 16 visit to the United States, spoke to Anadolu Agency about what happened that day.
Dereci, who had traveled from Toronto and was with Turkish citizens gathered to see Erdogan in Washington, said the real victims of the brawl were the Turkish supporters.
Dereci was one of the people injured by PKK supporters and some Armenians during the brawl outside the Turkish Embassy the day Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We told the police officers about the PKK supporters' insults and swearing, but the police weren’t interested, and every time told us that everything was under control," Dereci said. "Then the real brawl started and they hit me with a megaphone."
More than 1,200 people, including security personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.
Dereci said that after the assault, his face was covered in blood, and he needed to get 17 stitches to his head at a local hospital, and he had broken teeth.
"It was like they had planned it. Even though we warned the police about the group's bad intentions, they didn’t do anything to intercede," he said.
He added that supporters of the terrorist group were also waiting outside the hospital "just to make another scene."
"There was another group of people holding cameras so that if a brawl had started, they would have recorded it too," Dereci said. "The thing I don't understand is that the media is painting the PKK supporters as the victims. We were openly assaulted, but they don’t show that part."
After the brawl, a PKK sympathizer and two Turkish citizens were arrested. PKK/PYD supporter Jalal Kheirabadi was released with electronic monitoring until June 4, when his trial is set to begin.
Kheirabadi was also banned from approaching the Turkish Embassy building in Washington.
After the incident, the Turkish Embassy released a statement saying, "Groups affiliated with the PKK, which the U.S. and Turkey have designated as a terrorist organization, gathered yesterday without permit in Sheridan Circle in the immediate vicinity of the Ambassador’s Residence, while the President of Turkey was visiting the Residence.
"The demonstrators began aggressively provoking Turkish-American citizens who had peacefully assembled to greet the President. The Turkish-Americans responded in self-defense and one of them was seriously injured. The violence and injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration. We hope that, in the future, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that similar provocative actions causing harm and violence do not occur."
Reporting by Seyit Aydogan;Writing by Satuk Bugra Kutlugun
