Two Canadian citizens of Turkish-origin, who took part in the attack on peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. in May 2017, handed over their companies and moved to Turkey, a former lawyer of one of the men said, reported online news outlet Ahval on Saturday.
Ahmet Dereci and Sami Ellialtı were sought by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department after the incident on felony assault charges, CBC have reported at the time.
A spokesman for Toronto city police department, where the two men lived, said they were not asked by the US authorities to apprehend Dereci and Ellialtı, and the men did not turn themselves in on a public request. Their whereabouts are unknown, Toronto’s The Star newspaper reported last week.
“Dereci had an electricity company in Toronto. He was doing wiring for local businesses, and was earning good,” Brain İbrahim Cintosun, Dereci’s former lawyer, was quoted by a news outlet called Other Side as saying.
“We heard Dereci and Ellialtı emptied their houses, and handed over the company after the incident” Cintosun said. “They left before the arrest orders were issued.”
Dereci posted a photo on Facebook on June 2017, a week after the incident, showing him and his family in İstanbul, The Star said.
On May 16, 2017, Turkish security officers and pro-Turkish groups attacked a group of peaceful protesters who chanted slogans against Turkish government in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C., bodily hurting nine people. After the incident, D.C. police charged 19 people, including 15 security detail of Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Of the remaining four civilians, two US citizens of Turkish origin were arrested. Both pleaded guilty in December.
