[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 82 (Friday, May 18, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H4234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE ATTACK ON AMERICANS BY PRESIDENT ERDOGAN'S SECURITY FORCE

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on May 16, 2017, as Turkish President 
Erdogan visited the Nation's Capital, his gestapo security forces 
unleashed a brutal assault on peaceful American demonstrators. Many of 
them were Armenian Americans who were exercising their constitutional 
right of free speech.
  As Erdogan looked on, his thugs demonstrated their intolerance for 
free expression and contempt for America. This illegal behavior is 
absolutely intolerable by any security force, especially on U.S. soil 
against Americans.
  Fifteen members of the Turkish security detail were originally 
charged for this unprovoked attack, but now there are only four. Why? 
It is clear from video recordings and witness accounts that more than 
four Turks participated on this assault on free speech.
  I contacted the Justice Department and asked why charges were dropped 
against 11 guards, but they refused to give an explanation. The DOJ 
should not be complicit in Erdogan's assault on democracy. The DOJ must 
enforce American law. It must not make backroom deals with want-to-be 
dictators.

  And that is just the way it is.

                          ____________________