OAN Staff Abril Elfi
12:34 PM – Tuesday, September 2, 2024
Ten people have been arrested following an attack on two United States Marines in Turkey.
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On Monday, the Criminal Court of Izmir said that 10 of the people who have been accused of assaulting the Marines have been arrested.
The court stated that the grounds for their arrest is “deprivation of liberty of more than one person,” and five other people will be tried without their being arrested.
The Turkish Youth Union lawyer representing those who have been arrested said all 10 of them will “appeal the court’s decision and ask for a lifting of arrests” on Wednesday.
According to the Izmir Governorship, the U.S. Marines, who were wearing civilian clothes, were attacked by two women and 13 men who are all part of the Turkish Youth Union.
The Turkish Youth Union is a national youth and student group that has an anti-American and anti-imperialist stance. They are also linked to the Turkish “Vatan Party,” which is a nationalist political party in Turkey.
A video of multiple people attacking the two Marines and chanting “Yankee go home!” as they try to put bags over their heads was posted to the group’s website with a link to join the group.
A U.S. official told the press that as a safety precaution, U.S. service members ported in Izmir are restricted to their ship.
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey posted on X following the incident and confirmed that the Marines were safe. They also thanked the Turkish authorities “for their rapid response and ongoing investigation.”
The Izmir Governorship said “5 plain clothes U.S. soldiers saw the incident from a distance, and got involved.”
The Sixth Fleet has stated that the service members were aided by other Marines in the area and then were taken to the hospital for an evaluation. No major injuries were found and they returned to the USS Wasp.
They also stated that no service members were detained and those involved had been cooperating with investigators regarding the incident.
There have been prior allegations of assaults against U.S. service members by the Turkish Youth Union. In 2014, while on leave from the destroyer USS Ross, which had docked in Istanbul, three American sailors were attacked by roughly 20 individuals posing as members of the group. The group’s website also posted a video of that incident at that time.
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