All of the Turkish security personnel charged with crimes stemming from their May 2017 attack on a group of people protesting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Washington, D.C., remain at large, despite movement in the legal cases against them.
The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) announced on Wednesday a grand jury had handed down indictments for those involved in the attack, which left eleven civilians and one police officer injured. Nineteen people were included in the indictment; fifteen were Turkish security personnel and four were civilians. They were all indicted on conspiracy to commit a crime of violence with a bias crime enhancement, a felony that could carry up to 15 years in prison. Sixteen of the defendants were also indicted for assault with a dangerous weapon with a bias enhancement.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), USAO, and State Department did not answer questions on the whereabouts of the 17 defendants who have not yet been arrested other than to say they remain at large and the investigation is ongoing. Two of the defendants were arrested in June.
"The conduct of Turkish security personnel last May was deeply disturbing," Noel Clay, a State Department spokesperson, told the Washington Free Beacon. "The State Department has raised its concerns about these events at the highest levels. Holding the responsible individuals accountable is of the utmost importance to us."
When asked for an update on the defendants who have not yet been arrested and if the State Department has any word on where they are, Clay said "sorry, we don’t" and referred the Free Beacon to the Department of Justice.
Bill Miller, a public information officer at USAO, which is handling the Department of Justice case against the Turkish personnel, said the two defendants currently in police custody are scheduled for an upcoming court hearing next week but the USAO could not comment beyond what it released Wednesday regarding the indictments.
"Two of the defendants were arrested on June 14, 2017," Miller said in the Wednesday release. "They include Sinan Narin and Eyup Yildirim. Both are due in court on Sept. 7, 2017. The other defendants remain at large."
When asked if the MPD, which made the two arrests, knows the whereabouts of those defendants still at large and what the police department is doing to track them down, spokesperson Margarita Mikhaylova directed the Free Beacon to the department's previous public statements.
District of Columbia police chief Peter Newsham told reporters in the immediate aftermath of the attack that, while "there could be a diplomatic immunity issue" at play in the case against Erdogan's security, the department would "pursue everything that's within our legal power to hold the folks that were responsible for their actions."
In June, the MPD publicly announced charges against those involved in the attack as well as the two arrests. "We will put out a press release if/when additional arrests are made," Karimah Bilal, MPD public affairs specialist, told the Free Beacon at the time.
When asked on Wednesday if there has been any movement in the MPD's investigation into the whereabouts of the defendants that remain at large, Mikhaylova said "the case remains under investigation."