WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is facing growing calls to respond forcefully to violence on American soil by Turkish presidential guards who were detained but then set free.
The unseemly incident is adding to U.S.-Turkish tensions that are compounded by a growing spat over U.S. policy in Syria.
The U.S. says it summoned Turkey’s ambassador to the State Department. That’s where the No. 2-ranked U.S. diplomat raised concerns about conduct by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail, seen on video violently breaking up a protest earlier this week.
The Trump administration concedes that it released two members of Erdogan’s detail after holding them briefly after the incident outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence. They were released under a globally recognized custom under which nations don’t arrest members of a visiting president’s delegation.