A video captured by Voice of America Turkish on Thursday revealed the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in close proximity to the melee that broke out Tuesday when his bodyguards brutally attacked protesters in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Washington, where Erdogan was meeting with US businessmen.
Chuck Ross, reporting for The Daily Caller, said that an in-house audiovisual analysis of the footage revealed that Erdogan, himself, ordered his goons to “attack” the protesters, heightening the narrative of this story, which has attracted attention from high-level lawmakers like Senator John McCain who called for the expulsion of Turkey’s Ambassador to the US Serdar Kılıc, while other lawmakers demanded concrete action against the demonstrators from the State Department and the White House.
The Daily Caller consulted a professional sound editor, Salih Ferad, who used noise-reduction and volume enhancement techniques to determine that Erdogan gave the order to his personal bodyguard while sitting in the back seat of a Mercedes Benz outside the ambassador’s residence.
“In video of that scene, recorded by Voice of America Turkish news service, Erdogan’s bodyguard stands up from the Mercedes and appears to relay a message to another man who was positioned closer to the street level action. The man then turns and rushes quickly in the direction of the protests. Shouting is heard, and Erdogan’s security staff was seen storming the protesters,” reported the Daily Caller.
Ferad’s analysis reveals that one of Erdogan’s bodyguards said “dalın diyor, servet abi dalın diyor [he says attack servet abi, he says attack],” just after Erdogan is seen speaking with his bodyguard. Another translation suggests the phrase to mean “he says dive in” or “plunge in.” “Servet” is the name of the person being addressed, and “abi” is a term of endearment meaning, “brother.”