Charges against President Erdogan's guards dropped by US authorities

In a decision made public on Wednesday, US authorities announced they have dropped charges against 11 of the 15 guards in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's security detail who were indicted over a brawl with YPG/PKK supporters in Washington, DC in May 2017.

The prosecution had previously asked for charges to be dropped against four of Erdogan's security team in November of 2016.

A day before US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's February 15 visit to Ankara, charges against seven other personnel were dismissed.

The US decision to prosecute members of Erdogan's security detail had earlier put further strain on bilateral ties between the two NATO allies.

Officials and an attorney in the case were cited by the Wall Street Journal as saying prosecutors were not pressured by political motives to drop any of the charges and added that the decisions were made due to misidentification of some suspects and lack of sufficient evidence against others.

Eleven people were hurt in the May 16, 2017, melee which Ankara said was the fault of US authorities for failing to provide adequate security.

The Turkish foreign ministry had said, "the brawl was caused by the failure of local security to take necessary measures, and the incident would not have occurred if US authorities had taken the usual measures they take in similar high-level visits."

As a result, Ankara said, Turkish citizens cannot be held responsible for the incident that took place.

Ankara also slammed the decision of the US authorities to allow pro-PKK protesters to rally close to the Turkish ambassador's residence since Ankara and Washington both recognise the PKK as a terrorist organisation.