Caught On Video: Americans Beaten By Erdogan Supporters In New York City

Once again supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have roughed up American protesters on American soil. As Erdogan delivered a speech to supporters in New York City at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on Thursday, a handful of protesters began holding up signs and yelling anti-Erdogan slogans. Men in black suits immediately rushed the protesters and began violently removing them while the crowd punched and shoved those being carried out.

Video released by Turkish media present at the event clearly shows at least two of the protesters being repeatedly punched in the face by Erdogan supporters as they were taken out of the room. And it appears that Erdogan actually encouraged the violence from the podium, calling the protesters - which included Americans - "terrorists". 

Violence erupts at an Erdogan speech Thursday: After American protesters were beaten by Erdogan supporters, he called the protesters "terrorists" from the podium (see 1:40 mark). 

#Erdo?an’? New York’ta Protesto Edenlere Yaka Paça Müdahale https://t.co/xqKyXuGIN1 pic.twitter.com/PrhSxsXCZv

— Amerika"n?n Sesi (@VOATurkish) September 21, 2017

The disruption appears to have started when Lucas Chapman - a young American activist and former YPG volunteer fighter (Kurdish "People"s Protection Units") - yelled out in the middle of Erdogan"s speech: "Murderer! You"re a terrorist, get out of my country!"

American former YPG volunteer protests during Turkish dictator speech: "You"re a terrorist, get out of my country". pic.twitter.com/lHwTBn1426

— Afarin Mamosta (@AfarinMamosta) September 21, 2017

Video shows Chapman immediately being shoved to the ground from behind, just before being seized by what appear to be security guards, though it"s not confirmed if any of the guards were part of Erdogan"s presidential security detail. Chapman was punched in the face by an unidentified man wearing a suit before disappearing off camera as he was carried out of the room.

NEW ANGLE: @RT_Erdogan thugs beating protester today at NYC rally! @ANCA_DC #Turkey #Turkish #Erdogan #StopErdogan pic.twitter.com/NmdhU2pIVj

— ANCA (@ANCA_DC) September 21, 2017

Chapman told Zero Hedge that the moment the protest began, he was assaulted by the crowd. "Erdogan"s supporters jumped on me almost immediately, shoving me out of my chair and eventually throwing me to the floor," he said. "They kicked and punched me repeatedly until the security guards lifted me and dragged me out. As I was being dragged out, Turks leaned into the aisle and continued punching me in the head and stomach."

Chapman is uncertain whether or not Erdogan"s body guards were directly involved as he says his face was quickly pressed to the floor and was thus unable to see while being beaten in the initial moments of the event. There were seven protesters total in the group and they escaped with only minor injuries. 

The ordeal caused Erdogan to pause his speech while the entire room erupted in pandemonium as body guards rushed through the crowd. The Turkish president leaned over to one of his aides in confusion and was visibly angry while glaring out at the audience.

Erdogan protested during his speech in New York. He asks his goon: Who are these?
The goon replies: Americans, sir. pic.twitter.com/84qYmyIlhN

— Gilgo (@agirecudi) September 21, 2017

Another man, carried out after Chapman, was shown on video being viciously assaulted by Erdogan loyalists waiving Turkish flags. Footage shows the man initially on the ground being kicked while what appears to be hotel security attempted to hold the crowd back. The protester was repeatedly punched in the face while being escorted out.

In addition, Erdogan seems to have encouraged the violence in the very moments it was taking place by calling the protesters "terrorists". Erdogan announced from the podium: "My dear brothers, my dear brothers, my dear brothers, I have an important request from you: don"t let three to five impertinent people, three to five hall terrorists ruin our lovely gathering."

Video from another angle shows Erdogan"s guards beating up an American protesting him during his speech in New York. pic.twitter.com/ALkeYIfDfC

— Turkey Untold (@TurkeyUntold) September 21, 2017

Referencing a familiar theme, Erdogan"s speech singled out the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Gülen movement as "terrorists" while equating both groups with ISIS. Thursday"s violence follows a major incident last May in which at least 12 people were seriously injured after Erdogan"s personal security detail attacked peaceful protesters outside the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC. Turkey has a history of aggressively cracking down on both protests and journalists, especially in relation to Kurdish issues. US federal indictments have been issued for 15 of the Turkish security officials involved in the May attacks, which occurred on American soil. 

Meanwhile, it appears that Erdogan was caught lying about the May incident this week. He claimed in an interview on Monday that Trump personally apologized to him for the violent encounter, which Turkey blames on Kurdish groups and DC police: "President Trump called me about a week ago about this issue. He said that he was sorry, and he told me that he was going to follow up on this issue when we come to the United States within the framework of an official visit." However, the White House denied that any apology had been issued over the embassy violence.

On Wednesday the Turkish president shocked an audience at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York when he said that the hundreds of journalists currently imprisoned in Turkey after a recent crackdown on government critics are "not journalists, they"re terrorists." When asked by Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait why his country has put more journalists in jail than any other nation, Erdogan responded, “The ones who have been sentenced, who have been imprisoned, are not journalists." He then made the bizarre claim that, "Many have been involved in burglaries and some have been caught red handed as they were trying to empty ATM machines.” And added, “Everyone else seems to think they’re journalists just because they say so."

Turkey has recently topped the list of countries routinely engaged in Twitter censorship and has over the past years completely blocked social media platforms nation-wide at various times. 

All of this causes us to ask: how long before both American leadership and the media begin acknowledging Erdogan for the thuggish tin pot dictator that he truly is? Apparently, he"s no longer content to crackdown on speech in his own country, but now willingly sics his fanatical mob even on Americans exercising free speech on American soil.

Followup: Erdogan Chills Nearby While His Bodyguards Assault Embassy Protesters

Yesterday we reported on a brawl that took place outside of the Turkish Embassy housing in Washington DC in which a bunch of pro-Erdogan goons assaulted a few dozen human rights protesters.

Nine people were injured, two seriously, and two arrests were made.

  

The attackers were originally reported as "Erdogan supporters," however it was fairly obvious Erdogan"s security detail was involved...

And today video emerged of Erdogan chilling by his Benz while his guards go to town on the protesters. And what are the chances they did that without Erdogan"s permission - or on his order?

New video shows Turkey"s Erdogan watching members of his security detail attack Kurdish protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in D.C. pic.twitter.com/OsnWUJD7EW

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) May 18, 2017

Content originally generated at iBankCoin.com * Follow on Twitter @ZeroPointNow

Erdogan Poised For Victory Based On Early Referendum Results Although "Yes" Lead Is Shrinking

Update 4: 95.5% of the vote is in, and Yes is down to the lowest lead so far, 51.6$ vs 48.4%.

* * *

Update 3: With 93% of the vote in, Yes is down to just 52%.

* * *

Update 2: with over 75% of the vote counted, the "Yes" has 54.2% of the vote, versus 45.8% for the "No" and rising.

RESULTS: Turkish referendum, 76% counted.

Yes: 54.2%
No: 45.8%

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) April 16, 2017

* * *

Update: it may be closer than expected after all, because as votes continue to trickle in, the Yes margin continues to erode, and with 61% of the vote counted, Yes is now at 56% versus 44% for No.

Turkey: Constitutional Referendum

If trend continues:

No (Hayir): 51.3%
Yes (Evet): 48.7%#Turkeyreferendum #Turkeyvotes pic.twitter.com/cbn82FT0SA

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) April 16, 2017

TURKEY: While "Yes" vote leads with 56% of the vote (61% counted), its lead has been falling gradually as votes have been tallied.

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) April 16, 2017

* * *

As previewed yesterday, on Sunday Turks voted on a referendum on the country"s presidential system whose outcome will likely place sweeping new powers in the hands of President Tayyip Erdogan and herald the most radical change to the country"s political system in its modern history. The package of 18 amendments would abolish the office of prime minister and give the president the authority to draft the budget, declare a state of emergency and issue decrees overseeing ministries without parliamentary approval. Effectively, Erdogan would become the closest thing to a despot possible in a "democratic" system.

For those who may have missed it, we urge readers to skim the preview, especially since the outcome appears to be largely decided, and according to Turkish media which appears to have broken the news embargo, with over 30% of the votes counted with a turnout of 87%, the pro-Erdogan "Yes" camp is set for a victory, as close to 60% of the votes allegedly support the proposed political system overhaul.

Turkey, 30% counted:

Constitutional Referendum

Yes: 61.8%
No: 38.2%#Referandum2017 #Turkey pic.twitter.com/zXqSWGezR6

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) April 16, 2017

First results from Turkey"s referandum,17.54 local time: 62.2 % YES, 37.8 % NO, with 29,1 % of votes counted https://t.co/9K9TQPY6Vs

— CNN Türk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) April 16, 2017

       
         

While we expect allegations of vote-rigging to emerge, especially in light of recent polls which showed a much closer margin between the "Yes" and "No" camps, we doubt there will be much political push from Turkey"s European "partners", especially since Erdogan still holds the trump card of releasing over 2 million Syrian refugees in Europe"s general direction should his now virtually supreme powers be disputed by Brussels or Berlin.

As for the market, as Barclays reported yesterday, it will likely take a Yes vote favorably, as it will mean little to no change in the Turkish political system.

As a reminder, from Barclays this is what a "Yes" outcome would mean for markets:

YES: A “yes” outcome would likely result in a broad-based, yet potentially short-lived, relief rally

Despite the market’s anticipation of a “yes” outcome, we think the associated reduction in near-term political uncertainty would likely still deliver some relief rally, allowing a temporary reprieve for the TRY and a steeper curve in anticipation of a “gradual” unwinding of tight liquidity policy.

In FX, still-large TRY political risk premia and undervaluation suggest room for appreciation following a “yes” outcome. While our estimate of the lira’s political risk premia has reduced from 15pp at the end of January, it remains relatively large at 8pp (Figure 6). Furthermore, our short-term Financial Fair Value (FFV) model suggests a 4% undervalued TRY against the USD (Figure 7).

We believe risk-reward argues for being long TRYZAR targeting January highs of 3.90 with a stop-loss at 3.67 for a reward to risk ratio of 3:1 (spot reference: 3.73). We prefer this to short USDTRY as South Africa’s similarly low risk-adjusted real interest rate differentials and heightened political risk should provide a degree of protection in the event of a “no” outcome. The trade also remains positive carry.

In rates, very low bond risk premia suggest a rates rally following a “yes” is likely to be concentrated at the front end of the yield curve as market participants will likely price a gradual unwinding of the CBT’s liquidity tightening measures. As such, we reiterate our existing trade recommendation of paying the 1s5s TRY cross-currency swap spread targeting -30bp with a stop-loss of -100bp.

For Turkey sovereign credit, we maintain our Market Weight rating. This balances our concerns about a likely medium-term deterioration of Turkey’s credit metrics in a presidential system on the one hand with relatively attractive valuations and likely reduced near-term political uncertainty in a “yes” vote on the other hand. In the near term, we see potential for further spread compression of Turkey against South Africa, especially in the 5y sector of the curve (Turkey ‘22s vs SOAF ‘22s), with South Africa remaining vulnerable to adverse developments.

In the corporate credit space, we also have a Market Weight rating on Turkish banks and corporates. In the case of a “yes” vote, we would expect bank seniors to benefit more than corporates given the more significant spread pick-up relative to the sovereign. Higher beta seniors trading at a discount of over 100bp to the sovereign as well as new-style Tier 2s yielding over 7% are likely best positioned to benefit, in our opinion, although this could be met with more Tier 2 supply. We would expect the opposite reaction to a “no” vote, with IG-rated corporates and more expensive bank seniors as well as old-style Tier 2s to be less vulnerable in any sell-off

Turkey Threatens Europeans: You "Will Not Walk Safely In The Streets" If Current Attitude Persists

Having already told Europe "we"ll blow your mind" with a threat to unleash 15,000 immigrants per month,Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan escalated his rhetoric this morning warning Europeans across the world would not be able to walk safely on the streets if they kept up their current attitude.

Tensions have accelerated since Turkey became embroiled in a row with Germany and the Netherlands over the barring of campaign appearances by Turkish officials seeking to drum up support for an April referendum on boosting Erdogan"s powers. Today"s comments are the most aggressive yet...(via Reuters)

"If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy," Erdogan said at event for local journalists in Ankara.

As we noted previously, should Turkey execute on its threat, it is likely that the anti-immigrant, populist wave that has swept Europe in 2015 and 2016, and which has subsided modestly in the subsequent period, will find a second, and very dangerous to the European establishment, wind.

Deutsche Bank Rejects Charge It Is An "Economic Terrorist"

Over the year, Deutsche Bank has been accused - and found guilty - of doing many illegal things (and paid handsomely for it, both in terms of penalties as well as sacked CEOs), but what happened yesterday was new.

As we observed yesterday morning, as part of his latest attack on currency speculators, Erdogan compared FX traders to terrorists, saying that "terrorists with dollars and with weapons have no difference." Furthermore, on Thursday the government friendly daily Yeni Safak reported that Deutsche Bank and other German institutions were attempting “economic terror” against Turkey by recalling loans to companies before their their due dates.

The German lender was not happy, and on Friday Deutsche Bank’s Turkish unit rejected claims that it’s plotting to undermine the economy, and said it’s “unacceptable” for the lender’s name to be associated with terrorism.

“Claims in the story about calling loans before their maturity and conducting operations in coordination with other institutions are totally groundless,” the bank’s Istanbul-based business said in an e-mailed statement Friday quoted by Bloomberg.

Like many other failing regimes, most notably Venezuela, Erdogan and his aides often invoke a conspiracy against Turkey by outside powers when the lira declines, "saying other nations are jealous of the country’s economic growth under his leadership." On Thursday, Erdogan accused Turkey’s enemies of speculating in the lira and again called on Turks to “thwart these games” by selling their holdings in other currencies.

Meanwhile, the one thing that could prop up the crashing currency, a rate hike, has been virtually proihibted by Erdogan who has warned that any such action by the central bank will be rejected by his administration. Erdogan is hoping to boost the lagging economy with cheap loans, however in the process it has sent the currency plunging.

Thursday was not the first time that Deutsche Bank has been singled out by the Turkish press. In January 2014, the German lender denied local reports that it deliberately drove down shares of a Turkish state-run lender that had been implicated in a corruption scandal. Deutsche Bank said most of the shares it processed in that episode were owned by its clients, and it wasn’t trading sufficient volumes to affect the company’s share price. More recently, the Frankfurt-based institution figured in a different way in government rhetoric.

In an amusing interlude, last September, when Deutsche Bank"s shares were plunging, amid capital concerns, Yigit Bulut, a chief adviser to Erdogan, said Turkey should consider buying Deutsche Bank.

“Some very good companies in the EU are going to fall into trouble and we need to be ready to buy a controlling stake in them,” Bulut wrote on Twitter. "Wouldn’t you be happy to make Germany’s biggest bank into a Turkish Bank!!"

As Bloomberg adds, Bulut also criticized Germany’s flagship carrier, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, soon after his appointment in 2013. He said the airline was behind anti-government protests that began in Istanbul’s Gezi Park that summer, because its position in Europe was threatened by plans to build a new airport in Istanbul.

Deutsche Bank, which has been in Turkey since 1987, employs 143 people at its Turkish unit. In the next TRY crisis, it is a distinct possibility many if not all could be arrested on allegations they are conspiring to take down Erdogan, whose authoritarian ways have been mostly ignored by the country"s western friends and allies.