Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) yesterday rejected a media report alleging that the office had sought to cover up a recent police assault case involving Turkish Office Deputy Representative Halil Ibrahim Dokuyucu, in what it called a failed attempt to bargain for diplomatic immunity for Taiwanese officials stationed in Turkey.
“The accusations made in the report were created out of nothing,” Huang said when asked to verify the authenticity of a report published in the Chinese-language Want Weekly magazine.
Huang said that the office was extremely troubled by media outlets seeking to dodge their fact-checking responsibilities by citing anonymous tip-offs and publishing erroneous reports.
Citing an anonymous tip, the magazine reported that Dokuyucu had scuffled with five police officers after getting drunk at a Taipei nightclub and even tore the officers’ uniforms, prompting Turkish Office Representative Ismet Erikan to turn to high-level national security officials to cover up the incident.
The office then instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to use the incident as leverage to persuade the Turkish government into offering diplomatic immunity to Turkey-based Taiwanese officials, the magazine said.
However, the plan fell through, it added.
When reached for comment yesterday, the Turkish Trade Office in Taipei acknowledged that a scuffle did occur and that the involved parties would cooperate with judicial investigations.
Officials of the Taipei Police Department’s Daan Precinct yesterday told a news conference that Dokuyucu got into an argument with staff at a bar on Taipei’s Anhe Road at about 1am on July 3 after getting drunk.
Despite the arrival of police, Dokuyucu refused to calm down, physically engaged the officers and kicked a nearby parked car, police said, adding that officers later decided to transport the deputy representative back to a police station to avoid escalating the incident.
Police said that the owner of the vehicle decided not to press charges after a friend of Dokuyucu, surnamed Ho (何), expressed a willingness to pay for the damage.
However, police subsequently referred Dokuyucu to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for an investigation into his physical conflict with the officers, they said.
According to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, it has written to the ministry to inquire whether Dokuyucu enjoys diplomatic immunity, which would spare him from investigation.
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