'Yankee, go home!': Turkish protesters rough up US sailors in Istanbul

Anti-American protesters shouting “Yankee, go home!” roughed up three US Navy sailors on Wednesday in Istanbul near where their warship was docked on an inlet of the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.

A dozen or more protesters shouted at them, calling them killers and said they should leave Turkey. The protesters, who carried a banner of the left-leaning Youth Association of Turkey, threw red paint at the sailors and briefly succeeded in putting white sacks over their heads.

“Soldiers from the occupying country think they can walk around freely in Eminonu,” association spokesman Melik Dibek said, referring to the neighbourhood where the incident occurred.

“It’s obvious why they’ve anchored here – because of their ambitions in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. American imperialism is the reason why the Middle East has turned into a chamber of fire.”

The servicemen, who were not in uniform, were from the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer docked nearby, according to Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for the US European Command. He said they were not hurt and were safely back aboard the ship, but that shore leave for its sailors was cancelled for the remainder of the day.

The United States Embassy in Ankara condemned the attack on Twitter and said it had no doubt that most Turks would reject such an action.