Two sailors from the United States’ amphibious assault ship the USS Wasp were attacked by a crowd in the Turkish Aegean city of Izmir on Monday evening.
The sailors were wearing plain clothes and were attacked by 15 people while walking down the city’s central Cyprus Martyrs Street.
According to the Izmir provincial governor’s office, the 15 belonged to the Youth Union of Turkey (TGB) – a left-wing nationalist youth group which is vehemently anti-American and anti-Zionist.
The group physically attacked the two soldiers while five more US soldiers watched on, throwing punches at the soldiers and attempting to put sacks on their heads.
The placing of sacks on US soldiers’ heads dates back to an incident that took place during the US’ invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Then, American soldiers raided a building in the northeastern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah where Turkish special forces were located, before taking them to Baghdad for interrogation. The Turkish soldiers were released after having been detained for 60 hours.
That incident had occurred after the Turkish parliament refused to allow US troops to use Turkish territory to stage their invasion of Iraq, forcing a change of plans.
On Monday, the TGB had posted to X, a video of the incident, captioned, “we put sacks on the US soldiers serving on the US’ largest attack ship, the USS Wasp!”
“US soldiers, who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands, cannot defile our country. Every time you step into these lands, we will welcome you as you deserve!” they said.
All 15 people involved in the incident were arrested and are now in custody.
The US embassy in Ankara also issued a statement, saying, “we can confirm reports that US service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in Izmir today, and are now safe.”
“We thank [the] Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation,” they added.
Monday’s incident is the latest in a series of controversial events for the USS Wasp, which had last month docked in Limassol before carrying out training exercises with the Turkish navy.
The USS Wasp had taken part in joint exercises alongside the USS Oak Hill, as well as the Turkish navy’s amphibious assault ship the TCG Anadolu, and fellow Turkish navy ship the TCG Gokova between August 13 and August 17.
The ship’s official social media page at the time had said the exercises had taken place “in a demonstration of enduring cooperation and mutual commitment to maritime security”.
Those exercises took place after the ship had docked in Limassol, sparking a backlash from opposition political parties, from Turkish Cypriots, and from the Turkish government.
Opposition party Akel accused the Cypriot government of dragging Cyprus into the middle of extremely heightened tensions by consenting to the “continuing concentration of foreign military forces on our island”.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar charged that “South Cyprus has become a military stopover point for countries which show at every opportunity they are party to the crisis and that they are complicit in the crimes against humanity being committed, and it has even started to use its civilian ports for military purposes.”
Meanwhile, Turkey’s defence ministry issued a warning to the Republic of Cyprus over military activities on the island.
“The recent increase in activity on the island of Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Administration’s ongoing activities are being meticulously monitored,” they said,
Despite this, Cyprus’ Defence Minister was resolute in his defence of the ship’s docking in Cyprus, speaking of his “sadness” at “some publications and also some political parties” which criticised the government’s handling of the situation.
“There is nothing reprehensible, there is no fault, we are a recognised, democratic, modern state inside the international community, and we have every right, the inalienable right, to perform exercises for the purpose of being ready if and when issues arise,” he said.
