Five members of the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), were detained in New York for attempting to disturb President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech during the Turkish-American National Steering Committee's (TASC) Meeting with Turkish American and American Muslim Societies program in New York.

According to the TASC's statement: "Hotel security and a professional private security company restored security at our private event after it was disrupted by five supporters of the PYD/YPG terror organization with trespassing, yelling and screaming, intimidating and harassing our guests and provoking violence with hate speech and words of malice to incite fighting."During President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to the U.S. back in May, supporters of the PKK terrorist organization, officially recognized as such by the U.S., Turkey and the EU, triggered a melee outside of the Turkish Embassy in Washington.

On May 16, the initial fight reportedly broke out at the Turkish Embassy when supporters of the terrorist group threw water bottles at Turkish citizens, triggering a 10-to-15 second scuffle in the middle of the road. Later, when Erdoğan arrived at the embassy building, protesters continued hurling grave insults, shouting slogans and throwing more bottles. The head of the president's security detail stepped in, followed by Turkish citizens who were there to see the president. Only after security intervened was the protesting group successfully dispersed.