ANKARA: Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on all parties in the U.S. to use moderation and common sense, as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building. Turkey is monitoring “worrying” developments in the U.S., including attempts to storm the Capitol building, the ministry said in a statement. “We believe that the U.S. will overcome this domestic crisis calmly,” it added.
In the statement, Turkish citizens in the U.S. were recommended to stay away from crowded areas and places where demonstrations are being held. Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın in a tweet also said that Turkey follows the recent developments in the U.S. capital with a lot of concern. “We follow the events in the USA with concern and invite the parties to calmness. We believe that problems will always be solved within law and democracy,” Turkey’s Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop said on Twitter. “As Turkey, we have always been in favor of the law and democracy and we recommend it to everyone,” he added.
Earlier, One woman died during the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday after she was shot by police, authorities said.
She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. City police said three other people died from medical emergencies during the long protest on and around the Capitol grounds. Washington police chief Robert Contee said 52 people had been arrested Wednesday, 26 of them on the grounds of the Capitol, for curfew violations, unlawful entry and weapons charges. Fourteen police were injured, one seriously after he was pulled into a crowd and assaulted, he added.
He also said two pipe bombs had been discovered near the Capitol, one at Democratic Party offices and the other at Republican Party offices. In addition, a vehicle was discovered parked on Capitol grounds with a long gun and Molotov cocktails inside. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an extension of the city’s state of emergency for 15 days through the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, amid fears Trump and his supporters will continue to threaten violence over their unsupported claims that Biden’s election win was fraudulent.
“I know that I speak for all of us when I say that we saw an unprecedented attack on our American democracy incited by the United States president, and he must be held accountable,” Bowser said. –Agencies
