US readies for ‘Akarsu’ law of citizenship

WASHINGTON / Hürriyet

Akarsu had been working for the U.S. government for more than 20 years when he died on the job during the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) attack on the U.S. embassy on Feb. 1. Daily News Photo / Selahattin Sönmez

U.S. lawmakers are working on a new motion to grant citizenship to foreign nationals working in their countries for the U.S. government in a new law to be named after Mustafa Akarsu, a security guard who was killed in a Feb. 1 attack on Washington’s mission in Ankara.

The “Mustafa Akarsu Local Guard Support” law is nearing finalization and aims to bestow “special immigrant status” on the families of people who have died while on duty after working for the American government for more than 15 years.

The law, if passed, will be retroactively set to the date of Jan. 31, 2013, allowing Akarsu’s family to be included in the new regulation. Akarsu had been working for the U.S. government for more than 20 years when he died on the job during the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) attack on the U.S. embassy on Feb. 1.

The law was proposed by Republican Party member and House Committee of Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.

The Akarsu family has previously been visited by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and has received the “Thomas Jefferson Star” medal in honor of their father. A pool named after Akarsu was also opened in the embassy compound.

The DHKP/C claimed responsibility for the Feb. 1 suicide attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, which killed Akarsu, as well as the attacker, Ecevit Şanlı. Security forces have been intensifying raids on locations linked to the organization since the bombing.