U.S. Supreme Court spurns Turkey’s bid to avoid suits over 2017 Washington protest

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Turkey’s bid to dismiss two lawsuits filed by demonstrators seeking monetary damages after accusing Turkish security forces of injuring them during a 2017 protest in Washington that coincided with a visit by President Tayyip Erdogan.

The justices turned away an appeal by Turkey of lower court rulings allowing the litigation to proceed, rejecting the NATO ally’s argument that it has immunity from such legal action in the United States under a federal law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

At issue in the litigation is a melee involving members of Erdogan’s security detail that occurred as protesters demonstrated outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington on May 6, 2017. Erdogan was in the U.S. capital to meet then-President Donald Trump. The incident strained relations between Turkey and the United States.

Two lawsuits were filed in 2018 – one case brought by 15 plaintiffs and the other by five – seeking to hold Turkey’s government responsible and asking for monetary damages for injuries that included concussions, seizures and lost teeth. The plaintiffs sought tens of millions of dollars, according to court papers.

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act limits the jurisdiction of American courts over lawsuits against foreign governments.

Turkey has blamed the brawl on demonstrators linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party. The police chief in the U.S. capital described the incident as a “brutal attack” on peaceful protesters.

Criminal assault charges were brought in Washington against several Turkish security agents and others involved. Two of the defendants – not members of Erdogan’s security team – pleaded guilty. Prosecutors dropped charges against 11 agents in 2018.

President Joe Biden’s administration had urged the Supreme Court not to hear Turkey’s appeal to avoid the lawsuits, saying that when foreign security personnel deploy force in ways that are not related to protecting officials from bodily harm they are acting outside their legal protections.

Lower courts ruled against Turkey. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2021 ruled that while members of the Turkish security detail had a right to protect Erdogan, their actions in this incident did not meet that exception.

Turkey had argued that a failure by the Supreme Court to reverse that ruling threatened to disrupt U.S. foreign relations and “invites reciprocal erosion of immunity for U.S. security agents protecting American presidents, diplomats and missions abroad.”

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