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US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul

DiAnna

DiAnna

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US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul - ABC News

Three U.S. sailors were assaulted today by about 20 people on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, and the assault was videotaped and then posted on the internet, the Navy said.The American embassy said the videotaped assault on the sailors was "appalling."

The Navy said the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross when about 20 people who claimed to be from the Turkish Youth Union began "verbally and physically assaulting the sailors."[/FONT][/COLOR]

The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."

The sailors were then shoved and had things thrown at them. Several of the Turkish men tried to grab one American sailor and white bags were produced which they tried to put over the sailors' head while other Turks chanted, "Go home, Yankee." The sailors wrenched themselves free."

WTF? Turkey is one of our NATO allies, but they allow a cowardly gang of thugs to attack three US sailors? Where the hell were the Turkish police? These sailors were dressed in civilian clothes, yet they were deliberately rooted out, roughed up, had bags shoved over their heads, then they were chased by nearly two dozen of these assholes. And the Turkish government says..... *crickets*.....

Why is Turkey even a part of NATO anyway? It refuses to allow US use of NATO bases in Turkey, it thwarts the US at every turn. Since when does Turkey have the right to pick and choose which NATO countries are "allowed" to use NATO bases, most of which were paid for in large part by US funds. This really chaps my hide.
 
DiAnna said:
US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul - ABC News

Three U.S. sailors were assaulted today by about 20 people on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, and the assault was videotaped and then posted on the internet, the Navy said.The American embassy said the videotaped assault on the sailors was "appalling."

The Navy said the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross when about 20 people who claimed to be from the Turkish Youth Union began "verbally and physically assaulting the sailors."[/FONT][/COLOR]

The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."

The sailors were then shoved and had things thrown at them. Several of the Turkish men tried to grab one American sailor and white bags were produced which they tried to put over the sailors' head while other Turks chanted, "Go home, Yankee." The sailors wrenched themselves free."

WTF? Turkey is one of our NATO allies, but they allow a cowardly gang of thugs to attack three US sailors? Where the hell were the Turkish police? These sailors were dressed in civilian clothes, yet they were deliberately rooted out, roughed up, had bags shoved over their heads, then they were chased by nearly two dozen of these assholes. And the Turkish government says..... *crickets*.....

Why is Turkey even a part of NATO anyway? It refuses to allow US use of NATO bases in Turkey, it thwarts the US at every turn. Since when does Turkey have the right to pick and choose which NATO countries are "allowed" to use NATO bases, most of which were paid for in large part by US funds. This really chaps my hide.
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Turkey may have been more friendly when they had a secular government...not so much now.
 
Sucks but this could honestly happen in just about any country in that region. Pretty silly on their part as far as economics go. Sailors usually dump a lot into the local economy when they do their port calls.
 
Pretty damning event, especially on veteran's day, if I am not mistaken?

The 4 out of 4th response from the US Embassy in Turkiye states the following:

… the vast majority of Turks would join us in rejecting an action that so disrespects Turkey’s reputation for hospitality.
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I believe this is true.
 
WCH said:
Turkey may have been more friendly when they had a secular government...not so much now.
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That is a good point.

But.... I still think these budding jihaders are going to receive the standard Turkish beat down (given equally to jihaders, Kurdish seperatists and leftist trade unionists).

Even if the government sympathizes with them to a degree, their actions represent a stability issue- and Turkey takes stability issues of any kind very seriously.
 
The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."
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While I do not condone the attacks, can this notion be refuted?
 
DiAnna said:
US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul - ABC News

Three U.S. sailors were assaulted today by about 20 people on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, and the assault was videotaped and then posted on the internet, the Navy said.The American embassy said the videotaped assault on the sailors was "appalling."

The Navy said the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross when about 20 people who claimed to be from the Turkish Youth Union began "verbally and physically assaulting the sailors."[/FONT][/COLOR]

The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."

The sailors were then shoved and had things thrown at them. Several of the Turkish men tried to grab one American sailor and white bags were produced which they tried to put over the sailors' head while other Turks chanted, "Go home, Yankee." The sailors wrenched themselves free."

WTF? Turkey is one of our NATO allies, but they allow a cowardly gang of thugs to attack three US sailors? Where the hell were the Turkish police? These sailors were dressed in civilian clothes, yet they were deliberately rooted out, roughed up, had bags shoved over their heads, then they were chased by nearly two dozen of these assholes. And the Turkish government says..... *crickets*.....

Why is Turkey even a part of NATO anyway? It refuses to allow US use of NATO bases in Turkey, it thwarts the US at every turn. Since when does Turkey have the right to pick and choose which NATO countries are "allowed" to use NATO bases, most of which were paid for in large part by US funds. This really chaps my hide.
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These kind of things happen from tine to time and, frankly, the same sort of thing could happen to a tourist that is visiting the US. Not every street in every one of our cities is safe.

While I'm sure that the Turks will make an effort to find the perps it's really just an isolated incident. If such attacks become more common then we might have an issue.
 
Lutherf said:
These kind of things happen from tine to time and, frankly, the same sort of thing could happen to a tourist that is visiting the US. Not every street in every one of our cities is safe.
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Very true, but most of the other attacks on US sailors are done for criminal motivations or masculine jealosy (high paid US servicemen taking too many local girls).

These attackers had religous motivations, which is very rare for Turkey. As such, it is more serious than the standard "pissed off local punches obnoxiously drunk sailor" or "jealous local males jump sailors because their cash gets them too many local chicks" type incidents.
 
Lutherf said:
These kind of things happen from tine to time and, frankly, the same sort of thing could happen to a tourist that is visiting the US. Not every street in every one of our cities is safe.

While I'm sure that the Turks will make an effort to find the perps it's really just an isolated incident. If such attacks become more common then we might have an issue.
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I completely agree with this. A few thugs in Turkey don't represent the sentiments of all or even a sizable number of the Turkish people. Thugs in the US and here in Canada occasionally hassle Muslims. Turkey is a huge country with a lot of internal conflict, much related to the ethnic Kurds and the US support of the Kurds can be seen by some as interfering in and assisting strife within Turkey. It's a pretty complicated area of the world right now.

I'd be more concerned about the intransigence of the Turkish government and their foot dragging in assisting the situation related to ISIS/ISIL/IS. Admission of Turkey within NATO was seen originally as a pretty big coup, but it's proving to be troublesome. I don't have any answers to offer, however.

I'd just add, as well, that the behaviour of the US Sailors as shown in the video is something all Americans should be proud of - they were not belligerent or aggressive - they raised their hands in a peaceful way - and they extricated themselves from a tense situation and didn't escalate it into a confrontation where someone could have been seriously hurt or killed.
 
DiAnna said:
US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul - ABC News

Three U.S. sailors were assaulted today by about 20 people on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, and the assault was videotaped and then posted on the internet, the Navy said.The American embassy said the videotaped assault on the sailors was "appalling."

The Navy said the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross when about 20 people who claimed to be from the Turkish Youth Union began "verbally and physically assaulting the sailors."[/FONT][/COLOR]

The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."

The sailors were then shoved and had things thrown at them. Several of the Turkish men tried to grab one American sailor and white bags were produced which they tried to put over the sailors' head while other Turks chanted, "Go home, Yankee." The sailors wrenched themselves free."

WTF? Turkey is one of our NATO allies, but they allow a cowardly gang of thugs to attack three US sailors? Where the hell were the Turkish police? These sailors were dressed in civilian clothes, yet they were deliberately rooted out, roughed up, had bags shoved over their heads, then they were chased by nearly two dozen of these assholes. And the Turkish government says..... *crickets*.....

Why is Turkey even a part of NATO anyway? It refuses to allow US use of NATO bases in Turkey, it thwarts the US at every turn. Since when does Turkey have the right to pick and choose which NATO countries are "allowed" to use NATO bases, most of which were paid for in large part by US funds. This really chaps my hide.
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"Allow?" What, was there some sort of "request to assault foreign military personnel" formed that got filled out?
 
CanadaJohn said:
I completely agree with this.
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Not me, these were not ordinary criminal thugs nor were they the standard "jealous local guys". Rather, they were a relatively large group of religously motivated attackers.

In short, this may well be grounds for concern.
 
I hate to break it to everyone but Turkey is not an ally because they sociologically, or politically, or even religiously agree with us. Over 99% of the nation is still Muslim, with a healthy chunk of that being Sunnis. There is no real reason to conclude that everyone will always get along just because we call them a regional ally for entirely that reason, the region we can strike from using their nation as a starting point.
 
Declan said:
Or what? The US isn't giving up its airbases in Turkey for any price. They are too strategically important.
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Or Turkey will be made to answer. Having bases there isn't a green light to treat one's allies like this. Turkey has a virulent rising extremist side.
 
US Conservative said:
Or Turkey will be made to answer. Having bases there isn't a green light to treat one's allies like this. Turkey has a virulent rising extremist side.
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No they won't be made to answer. The US won't give up the airfields over some locals harassing sailors.
 
US Conservative said:
Perhaps they would like some setbacks on the military hardware we send them. I think this incident alone will cost them plenty in tourism.
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Tourism is nothing. We made a deal with the devil when it came to Turkey decades ago. Nothing is going to change that with the middle east in turmoil. Not having those airfields makes that trip a lot longer.
 
Declan said:
Tourism is nothing. We made a deal with the devil when it came to Turkey decades ago. Nothing is going to change that with the middle east in turmoil. Not having those airfields makes that trip a lot longer.
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We are a global arms dealer.


You DON'T piss off the guy that supplies your military. As a general rule.
 
iacardsfan said:
While I do not condone the attacks, can this notion be refuted?
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Yes it can, the sailors are performing their duties according to American law.
 
DiAnna said:
US Sailors Victims of Videotaped Attack in Istanbul - ABC News

Three U.S. sailors were assaulted today by about 20 people on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, and the assault was videotaped and then posted on the internet, the Navy said.The American embassy said the videotaped assault on the sailors was "appalling."

The Navy said the sailors were on leave from the destroyer USS Ross when about 20 people who claimed to be from the Turkish Youth Union began "verbally and physically assaulting the sailors."[/FONT][/COLOR]

The video shows one of the Turks telling the Americans, "We define you as murderers and killers and want you to get out of our land."

The sailors were then shoved and had things thrown at them. Several of the Turkish men tried to grab one American sailor and white bags were produced which they tried to put over the sailors' head while other Turks chanted, "Go home, Yankee." The sailors wrenched themselves free."

WTF? Turkey is one of our NATO allies, but they allow a cowardly gang of thugs to attack three US sailors? Where the hell were the Turkish police? These sailors were dressed in civilian clothes, yet they were deliberately rooted out, roughed up, had bags shoved over their heads, then they were chased by nearly two dozen of these assholes. And the Turkish government says..... *crickets*.....

Why is Turkey even a part of NATO anyway? It refuses to allow US use of NATO bases in Turkey, it thwarts the US at every turn. Since when does Turkey have the right to pick and choose which NATO countries are "allowed" to use NATO bases, most of which were paid for in large part by US funds. This really chaps my hide.
Click to expand...

These things happen. Tourists are attacked by gangs (literally thug gangs) from time to time while vacationing here. It sucks...
 
Cryptic said:
Not me, these were not ordinary criminal thugs nor were they the standard "jealous local guys". Rather, they were a relatively large group of religously motivated attackers.

In short, this may well be grounds for concern.
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I think that we should be using a more realistic term. Attack just doesn't cut it. Harassed works better.
 
This "gang" is called The Turkish Youth Union, and it is opposed to the current Turkish government, a government which has lately turned on its own people with the violent clashes last year. This was not an opportunistic group of street thugs; this attack was scripted and organized. The Turkish government is Islamic, and a large contingent of Turkish people are secular, so we've been seeing these clashes become more and more unstable.

The current Turkish government has been more and more vocal in its displeasure with the US, so to see an avowed enemy of that government seek out US military members for a scripted and organized attack is frankly concerning to me. If the Islamic government is hostile to the US and the secular opponents of that government are also hostile to us, this does not bode well for our military in particular and NATO in general.
 
Bodhisattva said:
These things happen. Tourists are attacked by gangs (literally thug gangs) from time to time while vacationing here. It sucks...
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You don't see as many of our military personnel in uniform traveling in the US airport anymore either. They aren't a target just overseas.
 
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