Ecuador Protests Erdogan Guards’ Attack on Women Activists

QUITO, Ecuador, (ST)-The government of Ecuador has sent a note of protest to Ankara over the aggressive act committed by Turkish President Recepe Tayyib Erdogan’s security guards against three female activists during his latest visit to Ecuador.

Media outlets quoted the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as saying that he phoned the Turkish embassy to express his country’s strong protest against Erdogan’s guards’ attacks.

Many activists took to the streets Thursday in Ecuador’s capital Quito to protest the policies of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Ecuador on an official two-day visit to finalize a trade deal between the two countries.

Some of the protesters, most of them were women, suddenly interrupted Erdogan’s speech and urged him to step down. Erdogan’s security guards attacked the protestors including Ecuadorean lawmaker Diego Vintimilla whose nose was broken in a confrontation with one of the guards as he was protecting a female protester and who was there to stress his support for women cause in Turkey.

The Ecuadorian Parliament Speaker Gabriella Rivanderia condemned the illegal intervention of the Turkish security guards against Vintimilla and the activists.  

Patino said in a press conference on Friday that the attack by the Turkish president’s security guards on the activists was irresponsible and against free speech

He stressed the guards had no right to act against freedom of speech in Ecuador, stressing that the responsibility to keep order was the local police’s job only.

“It is also a quite unjustified action by the Turkish government security to attempt to neutralize them [protesters] directly and in some cases affect and beat people who were irresponsibly screaming against the president,” the minister said, according to Telesure news.

The attack was caught on camera by several people who were at the protest. In one video, Erdogan could be heard saying “”such disrespectful types will get the response they deserve,” which is similar to the language he has used with protesters in Turkey as well.

Hamda Mustafa