ANKARA, Turkey — One day after a mob assault in Turkey against U.S. Marines assigned to the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, the U.S. military is speaking out.
Department of Defense Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder praised how the Marines handled themselves.
"In terms of the reaction of the Marines, certainly proud of our service members, and most importantly, that they are safe. This is clearly a troubling incident. We are grateful for the support of the Turkish authorities who looking into this, and I'll leave it there," he said during a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
Ryder said the Marines are now back aboard the ship and they are "not injured."
Turkish authorities on Monday detained 15 members of an anti-American youth organization who physically assaulted two U.S. military personnel in the city of Izmir, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The agency said members of the Turkish Youth Union, which is affiliated with the Patriotic Party — a small, nationalist political party without parliament seats — were detained on the orders of a prosecutor.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed the incident, saying service members were "now safe."
"We are troubled by this assault on U.S. service members and are appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable," National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.
The group posted a video of the incident on social media platform X and said they placed sacks over the heads of service members who had disembarked from the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp.
The video shows a group of men yelling, "Yankee go home!" while restraining a man and attempting to put a sack over his head.
"The U.S. soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot pollute our country," the group said on X.
USS Wasp arrived in Izmir on Sunday after conducting joint training with Turkish assault ships in the Mediterranean. The Wasp had been underway conducting operations in the Atlantic Oceana since early April before heading to the Med in late June.
The Marines are from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.