Video allegedly shows US soldier being attacked in Türkiye: ‘Yankee, go home!’

The Pentagon said Monday it is investigating a violent video that allegedly shows a U.S. service member in Turkey being attacked by a group of men who put a bag over his head and chanted “Yankee, go home!”

The shocking 10-second clip, posted to X by an account called Clash Report, shows the victim standing in the middle of half a dozen men who grab her by the arms and torso.

According to the report, the victim was a US serviceman from the USS Wasp, which was docked nearby, and the incident occurred in the Turkish port city of Izmir.

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

A man from outside the group rushes in to try to thwart the attack and struggles with an older attacker wearing glasses while another attacker runs and delivers a weak punch to the speaker’s shoulder before the clip ends.

It is unclear who carried out the attack, although social media posts suggest it was carried out by a group called the Youth Union of Turkey, a prominent Turkish youth organization that is openly anti-American.

The clip had been viewed nearly 235,000 times as of Monday afternoon.

“We have seen reports on social media of an assault on a U.S. service member in Izmir and are working to confirm the details of what happened,” Naval Forces Europe spokesman Commander Tim Gorman said in a statement.

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

Prior to its arrival, the ship, which is carrying more than 3,000 crew members and embarked troops, had participated in a joint training exercise with the Turkish navy, the outlet added.

This is the first time Wasp has operated in the Mediterranean since it was transferred from Japan to Norfolk, Virginia, about five years ago.

But this is not the first time that US Navy sailors have been attacked in Türkiye.

In 2014, three sailors from the USS Ross were assaulted by youth union members, who also chanted “Yankee, go home!” as they attempted to wrap bags over their victims’ heads during a port visit to Istanbul, according to Fox 59.

In a statement posted on the group’s website at the time, members said they were protesting U.S. “imperialism” in the Middle East and around the world.

“Long live the war of oppressed nations against imperialism,” the statement said.

The Navy investigated the incident, which did not cause any physical injuries to the sailors.

U.S. and Turkish officials condemned the attack, which the Turkish Foreign Ministry called “totally intolerable.”

According to the outlet, the Turks are using the bags to refer to a 2003 incident in which U.S. forces in Iraq arrested Turkish special forces soldiers they suspected of smuggling weapons to a Turkish-backed group in the city of Kirkuk.

US troops reportedly put bags over the heads of Turkish soldiers before releasing them.