Turkey becoming unsafe for America soldier an citizens

The Pentagon announced on Monday that it is currently looking into a disturbing video depicting an incident in which a US military member in Turkey was assaulted by a group of individuals who covered his head with a bag while chanting, “Yankee, go home!”Reportedly, this brief 10-second footage, shared on X by an account called Clash Report, shows the targeted individual surrounded by about six men who are holding him by the arms and body.

According to the information provided by the account, the victim identified as an American soldier stationed at the nearby USS Wasp base, and the assault took place in the Turkish city of Izmir.

The attackers chant, “Yankee, go home!” as one assailant wraps a bag around the unidentified victim’s shaved head.

A man outside the group rushes in to try to thwart the attack and wrestles with an older assailant in glasses while another attacker runs up and sends a weak punch into the intervener’s shoulder before the clip ends.

It is not clear who committed the attack, although the social-media post implied it was by a group called the Youth Union of Turkey, a prominent Turkish youth organization that is overtly anti-American.

The clip had nearly 235,000 views as of Monday afternoon.

“We’ve seen the reports on social media about a U.S. service member being assaulted in Izmir and are working to confirm the details of what occurred,” Navy Forces Europe spokesman Cmdr. Tim Gorman said in a statement.

The USS Wasp arrived Sunday at the port for a scheduled visit, and sailors and Marines took tours of the area organized by the ship’s administrators, according to The Mirror.

Before it pulled in, the ship — which carries more than 3,000 crew and embarked troops — had participated in a joint training exercise with the Turkish Navy, the outlet added.It’s the first time the Wasp has operated in the Mediterranean since being moved from Japan to Norfolk, Va., about five years ago.

But it’s not the first time US Navy sailors have been attacked in Turkey.

In 2014, three sailors from the USS Ross were attacked by Youth Union members, who also chanted “Yankee, go home!” as they tried to wrap bags over their victims’ heads during a stop in Istanbul, according to Fox 59.

In a statement posted to the group’s website at the time, members said they were protesting American “imperialism” in the Middle East and throughout the world.

“Long live oppressed nation’s war against imperialism,” the statement said.

The Navy investigated the incident, which left the sailors physically unharmed.

Both American and Turkish officials condemned the attack, which the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called “in no way tolerable.”

According to the outlet, the Turks use bags to reference a 2003 incident in which US forces in Iraq detained Turkish special forces soldiers who they believed were smuggling weapons to a Turkish-backed group in the city of Kirkuk.

The American troops allegedly put bags over the heads of the Turkish troops before eventually releasing them.