Two U.S. service members were attacked in western Turkey Monday – as video circulated online purportedly showing a soldier swarmed by a group of men who placed a hood over his head.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that two Marines out on liberty were victims of an assault in Izmir and are now safe. They had been aboard the USS Wasp, which had arrived in the port city after completing a training at sea.
The Izmir governor’s office told Reuters that members of the Turkey Youth Union (TBG), a youth branch of the nationalist opposition Vatan Party, ‘physically attacked’ two U.S. soldiers dressed in civilian clothes in the Konak district.
It added that five U.S. soldiers joined in after seeing the incident, and that police intervened. All 15 attackers had been detained and an investigation was launched.
‘The two Marines were aided by other Marines in the area and were subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation as a precaution but were not injured and have returned to the USS Wasp,’ U.S. Navy Cmdr. Timothy Gorman, U.S. Sixth Fleet spokesperson, told DailyMail.com.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13805405/us-soldiers-attacked-streets-turkey-video.html
Video circulating on social media showed a group of men holding down one of the soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes, while placing a hood over his head and chanting “Yankee, go home!”
https://www.newsweek.com/american-soldiers-targeted-attacked-streets-nato-ally-1947720