17 people detained in Turkey for protesting against the presence of the US Navy.
Turkish authorities arrested 17 people on Wednesday for wearing a headscarf on a US Navy crew in protest of the country’s policies in the West Asian region, the Istanbul governor’s office said.
The group that carried out the action was the Turkish Youth Union, which shared images of the action on Twitter, with large numbers of Istanbul residents chanting anti-American slogans.
“You are our enemy and no one wants you to be here now,” the group said, criticizing US support for the Syrian Kurdish militia (YPG), according to Reuters. We will not allow American soldiers to roam freely in our territories. “Yankee will return home.”
It was on Monday that the USS Mont Witney amphibious command ship crossed the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul to join NATO operations in the Black Sea. The captain of the US Navy said at the time that his crew was looking forward to visiting Turkey and strengthening Washington’s ties with its Turkish allies.
In December last year, Washington imposed sanctions on the Turkish military procurement agency for purchasing a Russian-made missile defense system under Katsa. The head of Turkey’s defense industry, Ismail Demir, and three other officials were targeted by sanctions, including a ban on all US export and export licenses to Turkey, as well as the suspension of assets and visa restrictions for Demir.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his US counterpart had promised him that he would do everything he could to sell F-16 fighter jets to the country, adding that Washington and Ankara had also discussed a joint fight against terrorism. .
