Two U.S. service members were attacked in Turkey on Monday by a group of anti-American protesters during a violent incident captured on video. The footage, shared on X, shows one serviceman surrounded and restrained by several men while they chanted “Yankee, go home!” One of the attackers covered the serviceman’s head with a bag.
"Yankees go home!"
Turks beat up American soldiers in Izmir, Turkiye, and tell them to go home. pic.twitter.com/605NhymPKr
— Hassan Mafi (@thatdayin1992) September 2, 2024
The serviceman involved is reportedly from the USS Wasp, which had just arrived in the Turkish port city of Izmir. Turkish authorities have detained 15 members of the Youth Union of Turkey in connection with the assault. The group posted about the incident on their own X account, condemning U.S. soldiers as responsible for violence in the region.
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The Pentagon is investigating the incident, which had garnered nearly 235,000 views as of the afternoon. The USS Wasp, carrying over 3,000 crew members and troops, had recently participated in joint training exercises with the Turkish Navy and is stationed in the Mediterranean as part of a naval deployment aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran.
This attack is reminiscent of a 2014 incident in Istanbul, where Youth Union members also targeted U.S. Navy sailors. The group has a history of protesting American presence and actions in the Middle East.
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Turkey has arrested 15 members of a radical nationalist youth movement accused of assaulting two US military personnel in the western city of Izmir, authorities said on Monday.
Those arrested were members of the vehemently anti-American Turkish Youth Union (TGB), whose members have previously committed attacks against US servicemen.
The sailors were part of the crew of the USS Wasp, an American amphibious assault ship docked in Izmir since September 1.
“A group of 15 members of the TGB physically attacked two American servicemen in civilian clothes,” the Izmir prefecture said in a statement.
“Our law enforcement agencies intervened quickly… Fifteen suspects were arrested,” the statement added.
On social media network X, the American embassy in Turkey confirmed the assault and said the victims were safe, while thanking Turkish authorities for their “rapid response and ongoing investigation.”
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett added that the United States was “troubled by this assault” and was appreciative that Turkish police were “holding those responsible accountable.”
Claiming the attack, the TGB posted a video on its X account in which several people are seen forcing a bag over the head of a person dressed in civilian clothes as the attackers chant: “Yankee go home!” in English.
“American soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot defile our country,” the TGB said.
The bag over the head referred to an incident from the 2003 Iraq war when US forces in northern Iraq arrested a group of Turkish soldiers, forced hoods over their heads and held them for three days.
The incident outraged many in Turkey.