President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has known as assailant who attacked Turkish diplomatic constructing with crowbar a ‘terrorist’.
Police in america have detained a person accused of attacking Turkey’s diplomatic headquarters in New York with a crowbar and breaking its home windows, legislation enforcement authorities mentioned.
The arrest on Friday got here amid condemnations from US and Turkish officers. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan known as on US authorities earlier this week to seek out the perpetrator, describing him as a “terrorist”.
The New York Police Division recognized the suspect in an e-mail to Al Jazeera as 29-year-old Recep Akbiyik. He faces a number of costs, together with tried housebreaking, felony possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats, felony mischief and menacing, based on a police spokesperson.
Turkish information shops 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 called the Turkish Home. It homes the Turkish consulate within the metropolis and its mission to the UN.
The assault got here almost per week earlier than Turkey’s presidential election run-off between Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Turkish ex-pats in New York voted in the elections on the Turkish Home this week. The vote in Turkey will happen on Sunday. Erdogan positioned first within the opening round of voting earlier this month however fell wanting securing the bulk wanted for an outright victory.
Politicians present assist
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 known as the incident a “heinous assault” on Monday.
“We anticipate the US to right away determine the perpetrators & present crucial safety to make sure the protection 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 legislation enforcement on the investigation. “We condemn the vandalism,” spokesperson Matthew Miller advised reporters.
Jeff Flake, the US ambassador to Turkey, denounced the assault as effectively.
We condemn the vandalism on Monday in opposition to the Turkish Home in New York Metropolis. We’re working with native legislation enforcement authorities on the investigation and to defend the safety and security of those amenities and the diplomats who work there.
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) May 22, 2023
The US and Turkey are NATO allies, however lately, there was friction between the 2 international locations, together with over Washington’s assist for Kurdish groups in Syria.
Amid Russia’s battle in Ukraine, Turkey helped broker a deal to proceed the export of Ukrainian grains, and US officers have commonly emphasised the significance of its alliance with Turkey.
