President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has referred to as assailant who attacked Turkish diplomatic constructing with crowbar a ‘terrorist’.
Police in the US have detained a person accused of attacking Turkey’s diplomatic headquarters in New York with a crowbar and breaking its home windows, regulation enforcement authorities mentioned.
The arrest on Friday got here amid condemnations from US and Turkish officers. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan referred to as on US authorities earlier this week to search out the perpetrator, describing him as a “terrorist”.
The New York Police Division recognized the suspect in an electronic mail to Al Jazeera as 29-year-old Recep Akbiyik. He faces a number of prices, together with tried housebreaking, prison possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats, prison mischief and menacing, in line with a police spokesperson.
Turkish information retailers had beforehand reported that Akbiyik is a Turkish citizen who left Turkey a yr in the past. His motives stay unclear.
Footage shared by the Turkish state-run information outlet Anadolu Company confirmed a person wearing black and sporting a hat bashing the glass façade of the constructing with a crowbar early on Monday.
The power, a skyscraper near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, is named the Turkish Home. It homes the Turkish consulate within the metropolis and its mission to the UN.
The assault got here practically every week earlier than Turkey’s presidential election run-off between Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Turkish ex-pats in New York voted within the elections on the Turkish Home this week. The vote in Turkey will happen on Sunday. Erdogan positioned first within the opening spherical of voting earlier this month however fell wanting securing the bulk wanted for an outright victory.
Politicians present help
In response to the assault, New York Mayor Eric Adams visited the Turkish Home on Monday and met Turkish diplomats within the metropolis.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s international minister, additionally referred to as the incident a “heinous assault” on Monday.
“We count on the US to instantly establish the perpetrators & present crucial safety to make sure the security of our diplomatic missions. My ideas are with my colleagues working relentlessly overseas for Turkiye, together with this election interval,” he wrote in a tweet earlier this week, utilizing the Turkish authorities’s official spelling of Turkey.
The US Division of State mentioned that its Diplomatic Safety Service was working with native regulation enforcement on the investigation. “We condemn the vandalism,” spokesperson Matthew Miller instructed reporters.
Jeff Flake, the US ambassador to Turkey, denounced the assault as properly.
We condemn the vandalism on Monday towards the Turkish Home in New York Metropolis. We’re working with native regulation enforcement authorities on the investigation and to defend the safety and security of those services and the diplomats who work there.
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) May 22, 2023
The US and Turkey are NATO allies, however in recent times, there was friction between the 2 international locations, together with over Washington’s help for Kurdish teams in Syria.
Amid Russia’s struggle in Ukraine, Turkey helped dealer a deal to proceed the export of Ukrainian grains, and US officers have frequently emphasised the significance of its alliance with Turkey.
