The Pentagon said Monday it was investigating a violent video that purportedly shows a U.S. soldier in Turkey being attacked by a group of men who put bags over his head and yelled, “Go home, Yankee!”
The shocking 10-second video Post to X A video posted by the account “Clash Report” shows the victim standing in the middle of six men grabbing him around his arms and torso.
The victims were American soldiers from the USS Wasp, which was anchored nearby, and the incident occurred in the Turkish port city of Izmir, according to reports.
The attackers chanted “Go home, Yankees!” and one of them wrapped a bag around the shaved head of the unidentified victim.
A man on the outside of the group rushes in to try to stop the attack and struggles with the older, bespectacled assailant, while another assailant runs up and delivers a weak punch to the shoulder of the intervener before the video ends.
It is not clear who carried out the attack, but social media posts suggested it was carried out by a group called the Turkish Youth Union, a prominent Turkish youth organization that is openly anti-American.
The video had been viewed nearly 235,000 times as of Monday afternoon.
“We are aware of social media reports that a US service member was assaulted in Izmir and are working to confirm the details of what happened,” Naval Forces Europe spokesman Tim Gorman said in a statement.
The USS Wasp arrived in port as scheduled on Sunday, and sailors and Marines were treated to a tour of the area organized by the ship's management. According to the Mirror.
The ship, carrying more than 3,000 crew and troops, had been taking part in joint training exercises with the Turkish navy before arriving in port, the media said.
This will be the Wasp's first time operating in the Mediterranean since it was relocated from Japan to Norfolk, Virginia, about five years ago.
But this is not the first time U.S. Navy sailors have come under attack in Turkey.
In 2014, three crew members of the USS Ross were attacked by members of the Youth Coalition while the ship was docked in Istanbul, yelling “Go home, Yankees!” as they tried to wrap a bag around the victim's head. According to Fox 59.
In a statement posted on the group's website at the time, members said they were protesting American “imperialism” in the Middle East and around the world.
“Long live the war of oppressed nations against imperialism,” the statement said.
The Navy investigated the accident, but no one was physically injured.
Both US and Turkish officials condemned the attack, with Turkey's foreign ministry calling it “completely unacceptable.”
The media said the Turks use the word bag to refer to a 2003 incident in which U.S. troops in Iraq detained a Turkish special forces soldier who was suspected of smuggling weapons to a Turkish-backed group in the city of Kirkuk.
The US military reportedly placed bags over the Turkish soldiers' heads before eventually releasing them.
