Petition calls on US government to hold Turkey accountable for Sheridan Circle Attack
Republican and Democratic members of the Hellenic Caucus, Armenian Caucus, Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance Caucus and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission are calling on the US administration to hold Turkey responsible over the beating and injury of nine protesters by members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security team during the leader’s visit on May 2017.
On a petition posted on the website of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), the four groups state that they are planning to send a letter to the Biden Administration urging it to take action and call on US citizens to add their signature.
“When Congress unanimously passed H. Res. 354 condemning the violent attacks, it made the unequivocal declaration that such acts perpetrated by foreign actors on American soil against Americans cannot and will not be tolerated – that there must be consequences,” the groups state in the petition, addressed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“We know that the State Department is currently pursuing a multi-faceted engagement with Turkey and believe that a just resolution of the Usoyan and Kurd cases have an important role to play in ensuring those efforts are constructive. We reiterate our position that Turkey must be held to account for the violent attacks perpetrated by its agents at Sheridan Circle.”
The petition calls upon the State Department, acting on behalf of the United States government, to press this matter with President Erdogan and Turkish authorities “as an essential element for relations between our two countries.”
The petition can be found here.
