WASHINGTON—Two Toronto men have been charged in the beating of peaceful protesters outside the Washington, D.C. residence of the Turkish ambassador to the United States.

Ahmet Dereci and Mahmut Sami Ellialti, devoted supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are wanted on assault charges for allegedly joining Erdogan’s security team in a May 16 attack that sent nine protesters to the hospital and became an international incident.

Dereci, who owns an electrical contracting firm in North York, was seen on videos of the incident allegedly punching a protester and then kicking him twice as he lay defenceless on the ground.

Dereci was charged with two offences: felony assault causing significant bodily injury, and misdemeanour assault or threatened assault in a menacing manner.

Ellialti was charged with felony aggravated assault, and felony assault causing significant bodily injury.

People by the names Ahmet Dereci and Mahmut Sami Ellialti attended a pro-Erdogan rally at Toronto’s Turkish consulate last year, telling CBC that they were friends. People by the same names own homes across the street from each other in North York.

Dereci and Ellialti are among 16 people facing assault charges that were announced by the Washington police Wednesday and Thursday. Two others were charged in May.

Twelve of the people charged this week are Turkish security officers, and Erdogan is exceedingly unlikely to have them extradited to the U.S. The civilians involved enjoy no such political protection.

Dereci did not respond to requests for comment. Ellialti could not be reached for comment. Toronto Police, which regularly arrests people wanted by other forces, has had “no involvement,” spokesperson Mark Pugash said.

The charges pose a test for the strategically important Turkey-U.S. relationship. Erdogan’s government responded angrily to the news of the charges, summoning the U.S. ambassador Thursday to deliver a message.

“It has been conveyed to the ambassador that this decision taken by U.S. authorities is wrong, biased and lacks legal basis,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, claiming Erdogan’s team was forced to act because the local police did not do enough to protect the area from the protesters.

“What kind of a law is this?” Erdogan said at an Ankara dinner, according to The Associated Press. “If they are not going to protect me, why would I bring them with me to America?”

Dereci and Ellialti were part of a group that travelled from Canada to Washington for Erdogan’s visit, a Turkish news agency reported in May. Also part of the group was Toronto’s Alpkenan Dereci, who was seen on video punching and shoving a protester. He has not been charged with any offence.

Alpkenan Dereci, whom The New York Times identified as Ahmet Dereci’s cousin, said members of the group had previously travelled to Cuba to greet Erdogan, a man he said they love. Both Derecis’ Facebook pages feature a photo of them posing with Erdogan.

“Recep Tayyip Erdogan was chosen by the Turkish people. We voted for him and we want him to be our president,” Ahmet Dereci told CBC in July 2016 during a pro-Erdogan rally at Toronto’s Turkish consulate in response to an anti-Erdogan coup attempt.

“We are in Canada but our heart beats with Turkey,” Ellialti told CBC. “As Turkish citizens, we came to support our democratic country.”

A “wanted” poster displayed by Washington police identified the two as Canadian citizens, but the force later clarified that it is not certain of their citizenship status. Dereci made an unsuccessful refugee claim in Canada about 15 years ago, Maclean’s reported, but it is not clear what happened next.

U.S. lawmakers were infuriated by the audacity of the Erdogan bodyguards’ behaviour in the U.S. capital. Armed men dressed in dark suits punched, kicked and choked unarmed men and women on a sunny afternoon on a quiet Washington street — on the same day President Donald Trump met Erdogan at the White House, just 15 minutes away.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Senior Republicans and Democrats demanded that Erdogan’s team be condemned and charged. But Trump declined to say anything about the attack, and the State Department was cautious in its public statements.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack Thursday as “vicious” and a “clear assault” on Americans’ free speech rights. Chief Peter Newsham said the offences were “extreme in nature” given that peaceful protesters were “attacked for no reason.”

Bowser said they identified the suspects by matching video clips to photos from passports and visas. Newsham said more charges will be laid when police identify more people.

One mystery that may never be solved is Erdogan’s role in the attack. His bodyguards began chasing protesters just moments after a member of the security team spoke briefly with someone in the president’s Mercedes.

Erdogan bodyguards were known for combativeness abroad even before he responded to the failed coup with a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent. They were involved in a 2011 brawl with United Nations security officers, and they were accused of harassing a journalist and a scholar at a Washington think tank in 2016.

Read more about: