A Turkish court on Thursday acquitted a group of youths who assaulted U.S. servicemen late last year in the western Izmir province, while one of them was fined TL 10,000 ($252) for “bodily harm.”
Fifteen members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB), an anti-American group linked to a political party, attacked two American servicemen, part of the crew of USS Wasp, an American amphibious assault ship docked in Izmir on Sept. 1, 2024. The incident was captured on camera by the TGB, which is known for similar attacks on U.S. soldiers in the past.
The servicemen had been in civilian clothes, and five other U.S. soldiers nearby tried to intervene in the incident. Security forces stopped the assailants, and the suspects were all detained and charged with “depriving a person of their freedom by coercion, threat or trickery.” All were tried without serving jail time.
At the final hearing on Thursday, the suspects’ lawyer Bülent Karagöz argued the incident was “not meant to deprive a person of their freedom but a protest.”
“They used their institutional rights to protest. It was not an illegal demonstration or a meeting,” he told the court.
Fourteen suspects were acquitted of the charges while TGB Chair Kayahan Çetin was handed a monetary fine, but the final ruling was adjourned.
The TGB claimed the video with a video on its X account in which several people are seen forcing a bag over the head of a person dressed in civilian clothes as the attackers chant: "Yankee go home!" in English. "American soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot defile our country," the TGB said.
The bag over the head referred to an incident from the 2003 Iraq war when U.S. forces in northern Iraq arrested a group of Turkish soldiers, forced hoods over their heads and held them for three days. The incident outraged many in Türkiye.
The TGB is affiliated with the Patriotic Party (VP), a fringe party known for its staunch opposition to U.S.-Turkish ties and advocates stronger bonds with Russia and China.
Türkiye-U.S. relations have been tumultuous at times, but the two countries remain steadfast NATO allies. Yet, a recent international survey by U.S.-based think tank Pew Research Center showed that favorable opinion of the U.S. around the world was lowest in Türkiye, along with Tunisia.
