10 people arrested in attack on 2 US Marines in Turkey
Ten of the people accused of assaulting two U.S. Marines in Turkey on Monday were arrested on Tuesday, according to the Criminal Court of Izmir. The grounds for their arrest is "deprivation of liberty of more than one person," the court said, and five other people will be tried without their being arrested.
The 10 arrested will "appeal the court's decision and ask for a lifting of arrests" on Wednesday, the Turkish Youth Union lawyer representing them told ABC News.
The Marines, who were wearing civilian clothes, were assaulted by a group of two women and 13 men who were members of the Turkish Youth Union, according to the Izmir Governorship, the local governor's office, in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The Turkish Youth Union is a national youth and student group that has an anti-American and anti-imperialist stance. They are linked to the Turkish "Vatan Party," a nationalist political party in Turkey.
As a safety precaution, U.S. service members ported in Izmir are restricted to their ship, a U.S. official told ABC News on Tuesday.
A video posted on the group's website showed multiple people attacking the two Marines while chanting "Yankee go home!" as they try to put a bag over one Marine's head. The video later shares a link to join the group.
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey confirmed the attack in a post on X and said the service members were safe and thanked the Turkish authorities "for their rapid response and ongoing investigation."
The Izmir Governorship said "5 plain clothes US soldiers saw the incident from a distance, and got involved."
The Sixth Fleet said the two Marines were aided by other Marines in the area and were taken to a local hospital for evaluation but were not injured and have returned to the USS Wasp. No Marines were detained by authorities and those involved were cooperating with investigators, it said.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday, "In terms of the reaction of the Marines, we're certainly very proud of the professionalism of our service members."
Asked if the incident would cause restrictions on other U.S. military installations abroad, Ryder said that was a question for local commanders.
"Of course, every situation is judged based on its own merits," he said. "Force protection is always a consideration, and any commander has the authority to make those kinds of decisions."
The Turkish Youth Union has been accused of attacking U.S. service members before. In a 2014 incident, three U.S. sailors were assaulted by about 20 people in Istanbul who claimed to be from the group while the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross, which had docked there. That incident was also videotaped and posted to the group's site.
The USS Wasp arrived in Izmir on Sunday for a "regularly scheduled port visit," the Department of Defense said.
The Marines are part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is on a routine deployment aboard the Wasp in the U.S. Sixth Fleet's area of operations, including the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where it recently completed a bilateral training exercise with Turkey.
