"Beat & Release": US Sailors "Hooded" by Revenge-minded Turkish Youths, in Izmir

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 3 September 2024)

        Tough to see the sights with your head covered.

The American amphibious landing craft USS Wasp (LHD-1) anchored 

at the port of Izmir and some sailors disembarked to tour the city. 

However (!),  a crowd of Turkish youths, members of the Türkiye 

Gençlik Birliği (TGB/Turkish Youths Union), happened to be on

Alsancak Kıbrıs Şehitleri Caddesi (street along the Izmir shore named

for the Turkish soldiers who died in the Cyprus intervention of 1974).

When the TGB group noticed one of the American sailors they put a

sack over his head and this scene was recorded. Police intervened and

took 15 Turkish youths into custody.  The American Embassy in Ankara

issued a statement thanking Turkish officials for their quick response.

What goes around comes around...hooded Turkish soldiers

in US custody in northern Iraq 20 years ago.