US Soldiers Safe After Attack by Protesters in Turkey

The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp sails in the Mediterranean Sea on June 30, 2024. (Nicholas Rodriguez/US Navy)

Two U.S. soldiers from a landing ship who were visiting a town in western Turkey are safe after they were attacked Monday by a group of protesters who have attacked American military personnel in previous years.

Turkish authorities said they have detained 15 members of the Youth Union of Turkey (TGB) in connection with a physical attack on soldiers in the city of Izmir, the Associated Press reported on Monday, citing the Turkish news agency Anadolu.

A video posted by TGB on its X account on Monday shows several men holding another man down and putting a bag over his head as the crowd shouts, “Yankee, go home.” A second man can also be seen coming to the aid of the man being held by the group.

“American soldiers, who carry on their hands the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians, cannot desecrate our country,” the group wrote in a post.

American troops have not participated in combat in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.

The USS Wasp, which includes embarked elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, arrived in Izmir on Sunday as part of a scheduled port visit. The ship recently trained with the Turkish Navy.

The Wasp Amphibious Ready Group has been deployed to the Mediterranean since late June. The ARG is part of a naval buildup in the eastern Mediterranean as the Pentagon seeks to deter Iran from attacking Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas official in Tehran in July.

Iran blames the killing on Israel, which has not admitted responsibility for the bombing that killed Ismail Haniyeh.

The U.S. Navy’s European and Africa Command said it had reviewed reports on social media of attacks on soldiers in Izmir and was working to confirm the details of the incident.

The US Embassy in Ankara confirmed in a post on its X account that an attack on American soldiers had taken place, but did not provide any additional details.

This is not the first time TGB has protested against the United States by putting hoods on Americans.

In November 2021, the group attacked a Navy civilian who boarded the USS Mount Whitney while it was in port in Istanbul. That attack followed a 2014 attack on a group of service members from the destroyer USS Ross who were dressed in civilian clothing.

Protesters poured red paint on at least one soldier and put a plastic bag over his head, calling him a murderer, the pro-government Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported at the time.

The newspaper reported that the hooding of American soldiers is seen as revenge for a 2003 incident in Iraq when American soldiers detained and hooded Turkish soldiers operating as part of a special operations team.

As The New York Times reported at the time, U.S. officials accused the soldiers of conspiring to kill an American-backed Iraqi official.