Members of Turkish national youth organization in custody after assault on US Marines

More than a dozen members of a Turkish national youth organization were taken into custody in Turkey after local authorities say they assaulted two US Marines.

The Marines, assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, were on liberty in Izmir when the assault occurred Monday afternoon, the US Sixth Fleet said in a statement.

The Marines were assaulted by members of the Turkish Youth Union, according to local authorities, a nationalist anti-American organization that has attacked US service members before.

Video of the assault confirmed by a US official shows several people holding the Marines by force as a speaker on the street screams loudly. One of the Marines shouts “Help!” several times, while the crowd puts a bag over the head of another Marine. The crowd then starts chanting, “Yankee, go home!”

The Marines were able to break away from the crowd with the help of other Marines in the area, the Navy said. They were screened at a local hospital and are not injured. The Marines have returned to the USS Wasp.

The US and Turkey are NATO allies, but relations between the two have often been fraught. Since the start of the war in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vociferously criticized Israel, accusing the country of carrying out a genocide. In April, Erdogan hosted Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul. Turkey also blocked Sweden’s ascension to NATO, claiming that Sweden harbored Kurdish terror groups. Erdogan relented when the US moved forward with plans to sell Turkey modern American fighter jets.

Local Izmir police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating the incident, the Navy said. No Marines were detained, and those involved in the incident are cooperating with investigators.

“We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in Izmir today, and are now safe,” the US Embassy in Turkey said on social media. “We thank Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation.”

Izmir Governorship said in a statement that local police intervened in the incident and that 15 suspects were taken into custody.

It’s not the first time the Turkish Youth Union has attacked US service members.?In 2021, authorities in Turkey arrested 17 members of the group for putting a hood over the head of a US Navy civilian employee, Reuters reported at the time. Their actions were in protest of US policy in the Middle East.

In a similar incident in 2014, members of the organization attacked three US sailors on leave from their ship in Istanbul, placing bags over their heads. The assailants chanted “Yankee, go home!” during the attack.

For the Turkish Youth Union, placing bags over the heads of US service members is a reference to an infamous incident in 2003 known as the “hood incident.” Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, US troops captured Turkish soldiers and placed bags over their heads, detaining them for 60 hours.

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is part of the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, which is operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea amid concerns of a regional escalation. The USS Wasp had pulled into Izmir one day earlier, and the Marines were allowed to leave the ship for a break.

This story has been updated with additional information.