By Oren Liebermann, Gul Tuysuz and Avery Schmitz | CNN
Greater than a dozen members of a Turkish nationwide youth group had been taken into custody in Turkey after native authorities say they assaulted two US Marines.
The Marines, assigned to the twenty fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, had been on liberty in Izmir when the assault occurred Monday afternoon, the US Sixth Fleet stated in a press release.
The Marines had been assaulted by members of the Turkish Youth Union, based on native authorities, a nationalist anti-American group that has attacked US service members earlier than.
Video of the assault confirmed by a US official exhibits a number of individuals holding the Marines by drive as a speaker on the road screams loudly. One of many Marines shouts “Assist!” a number of instances, whereas the gang places a bag over the pinnacle of one other Marine. The group then begins chanting, “Yankee, go house!”
The Marines had been capable of break free from the gang with the assistance of different Marines within the space, the Navy stated. They had been screened at a neighborhood hospital and are usually not injured. The Marines have returned to the USS Wasp.
The US and Turkey are NATO allies, however relations between the 2 have usually been fraught. Because the begin of the struggle in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vociferously criticized Israel, accusing the nation of finishing up a genocide. In April, Erdogan hosted Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul. Turkey additionally blocked Sweden’s ascension to NATO, claiming that Sweden harbored Kurdish terror teams. Erdogan relented when the US moved ahead with plans to promote Turkey trendy American fighter jets.
Native Izmir police and the Naval Felony Investigative Service are investigating the incident, the Navy stated. No Marines had been detained, and people concerned within the incident are cooperating with investigators.
“We will verify studies that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp had been the victims of an assault in Izmir at the moment, and at the moment are secure,” the US Embassy in Turkey stated on social media. “We thank Turkish authorities for his or her fast response and ongoing investigation.”
Izmir Governorship stated in a press release that native police intervened within the incident and that 15 suspects had been taken into custody.
It’s not the primary time the Turkish Youth Union has attacked US service members. In 2021, authorities in Turkey arrested 17 members of the group for placing a hood over the pinnacle of a US Navy civilian worker, Reuters reported on the time. Their actions had been in protest of US coverage within the Center East.
In a related incident in 2014, members of the group attacked three US sailors on go away from their ship in Istanbul, inserting baggage over their heads. The assailants chanted “Yankee, go house!” in the course of the assault.
For the Turkish Youth Union, inserting baggage over the heads of US service members is a reference to an notorious incident in 2003 referred to as the “hood incident.” Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, US troops captured Turkish troopers and positioned baggage over their heads, detaining them for 60 hours.
The twenty fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit is a part of the USS Wasp Amphibious Prepared Group, which is working within the jap Mediterranean Sea amid issues of a regional escalation. The USS Wasp had pulled into Izmir someday earlier, and the Marines had been allowed to go away the ship for a break.
This story has been up to date with further data.
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