ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities on Monday detained 15 members of an anti-American youth organization who physically assaulted two U.S. military personnel in the city of Izmir, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The agency said members of the Turkish Youth Union, which is affiliated with the Patriotic Party — a small, nationalist political party without parliament seats — were detained on the orders of a prosecutor.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed the incident, saying service members on board the USS Wasp were “now safe.”
“We are troubled by this assault on U.S. service members and are appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.
The group posted a video of the incident on social media platform X and said they placed sacks over the heads of soldiers who had disembarked from the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp.
The video shows a group of men yelling, “Yankee go home!” while restraining a man and attempting to put a sack over his head.
“The U.S. soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot pollute our country,” the group said on X.
The USS Wasp arrived in Izmir on Sunday after conducting joint training with Turkish assault ships in the Mediterranean.
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