Several of the civilian attackers in last week’s brutal assault on Kurdish protesters outside of the Turkish embassy have been identified, but Washington, D.C. police and the State Department say they have still not made any arrests.
Both agencies are investigating the violent brawl in coordination with the Secret Service.
The incident involved a group of bodyguards working for Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as a number of Turkish-American supporters of the authoritarian ruler.
On Wednesday, The Daily Caller identified one of the most visible attackers as Eyup Yildirim, an American citizen who owns a construction company in New Jersey.
Yildirim, 50, was seen on video kicking a female protester named Lucy Usoyan while she laid curled up on the ground. Usoyan said that she blacked out during the attack and was diagnosed with a minor head injury. (RELATED: Meet The Erdogan Goon Who Kicked Female Protester At Turkish Embassy)
Yildirim is friends on social media with two other men involved in the attack — Alpkenan Dereci and Ahmet Dereci, two cousins who live in Canada.
Yildirim and the Dereci cousins posed for photos with leaders from two U.S.-based non-profit groups, the Turkish American Steering Committee and the Turkish American Youth & Education Foundation, prior to Tuesday’s events.
The New York Times confirmed Yildirim’s involvement in a deeply investigated report on the melee. The Times also identified several of Erdogan’s bodyguards as well as other private citizens who took part in the assault.
Another private citizen involved in the attack is Sinan Narin.
He acknowledged to The Times that he kicked Usoyan, the Kurdish protester, but claimed he “wasn’t paying attention.”
“I thought it was a man. I would never kick a woman.”
Despite the information about the attackers being made public, both the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan police and that State Department say they have not made any arrests since last Tuesday.
Two men were apprehended following the action last week. Ayten Necmi, a Turkish-American activist who appears to have some affiliation with Yildirim, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. A Kurdish protester named Jalal Kheirabadi was also arrested.
“No additional arrests have been made,” a spokeswoman for the DC police department told The Daily Caller on Friday.
“The investigation remains active and is being conducted jointly by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, US Secret Service, and MPD. All three law enforcement agencies are actively sharing information and will remain in contact as the investigation proceeds.”
A spokesman for the State Department said that there was “nothing new to report” in terms of arrests.
The spokesman referred to the agency’s previous statements about the violence, including one from Sec. of State Rex Tillerson criticizing the Turkish government its role in the attack.
Video emerged showing Erdogan calmly watching as his thugs attacked the protesters. Erdogan also appeared to pass along the command to launch the assault. The video showed him relaying a message to his immediate bodyguard who then passed the command to another bodyguard just seconds before the attack.
Audio analysis conducted for The Daily Caller also revealed that men in the videos were heard shouting phrases like “he says attack!” and “he says dive in!”
