Turkey releases 5 of 15 detained in assault of 2 US Marines

Washington — Turkey placed 10 people in pretrial detention Tuesday in connection with an assault of two U.S. Marines in Turkey’s western port city of Izmir.

Several members of a Turkish nationalist group, Turkey Youth Union, or TGB, on Monday attacked two U.S. Marines from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, which docked in the city’s port on Sunday, according to the Izmir Governorate.

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday that the two Marines were not injured and are “safe.” He said they were aided by other Marines in the area during the incident and were subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation as a precaution before returning to the Wasp.

“This is clearly a troubling incident. We are grateful for the support of the Turkish authorities who are looking into this,” Ryder said.

He added that no Marines have been detained by authorities, and that those involved in the incident are cooperating with investigators.

Turkish authorities arrested 15 people on Monday over the incident, and a Turkish court released five of them under judicial control on Tuesday. The remaining 10 were ordered held in pretrial detention until they hear charges against them.

According to a video shared by the TGB on social media, TGB members were seen as they put a sack over a U.S. Marine’s head.

“No one will be able to respond to the cries for help from U.S. soldiers. Your hands are stained with the blood of our brave soldiers and thousands of Palestinians. You will leave our lands!” the TGB wrote on X, tagging the X accounts of the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the U.S. Department of Defense.

“[U.S. soldiers] put a sack over the head of our soldiers in Sulaymaniyah,” a TGB member said in the video, referring to an incident in which U.S. troops arrested at least 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq in 2003.

Turkish media reported that the heads of the arrested Turkish soldiers were covered in sacks, and the arrests stirred a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the United States. The incident is widely known as the “Hood event” in Turkey.

The video also showed several TGB members chanting, “Yankee, go home,” a historical anti-American slogan associated with 1960s leftist protests in Turkey.

Reports confirmed

In a statement on Monday, the Izmir Governorate announced that two women and 13 men, who are members of the TGB, physically attacked two U.S. military personnel in civilian clothes.

“Five U.S. soldiers in civilian clothes joined the incident after seeing it from a distance, and our security forces quickly intervened,” the governorate said.

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey confirmed reports of the attack on Monday. “We thank Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation,” the embassy said on X.

In a statement to VOA, a White House National Security Council spokesperson also said, “We are troubled by this assault on U.S. service members and are appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable.”

On Sunday, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, or DVIDS, reported that the Wasp was in Turkey “for a regularly scheduled port visit” that “provides an opportunity to further enhance strategic partnership between the U.S. and Turkiye.”

According to the DVIDS, the schedule of the U.S. personnel included “tours organized by the ship’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation team, such as a visit to the Ephesus historical site, snorkeling and scuba diving, and a guided tour of Izmir’s cultural sites.”

U.S. Sixth Fleet spokesperson and Navy Commander Timothy Gorman told VOA the two assaulted Marines were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Middle East tensions

The U.S. sent the Wasp to the eastern Mediterranean for deterrence reasons in June amid the increased tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. The USS Bataan and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford were previously deployed to the region after the October 7 attack.

Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, criticized the deployments.

“Every warship, every aircraft carrier sent there by other countries will provide an opportunity that will benefit those who say violence should continue and violence should spread even more to the region,” Celik said.

The Wasp participated in bilateral at-sea training with two Turkish navy ships in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea from August 13 to 17. U.S. Marines shared information about the joint training, but Turkey’s National Defense Ministry did not publicly announce it.

Later in August, Turkish media reported that the Wasp docked in Cyprus as part of the increased U.S. presence in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party criticized the government for not disclosing the joint training.

VOA Turkish Service’s Ogulcan Bakiler from Izmir and Begum Donmez Ersoz from Istanbul contributed to this story. VOA’s Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb also contributed.
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