Turkey Detains 17 People over Protest against US Navy Personnel in Istanbul

People shout slogans as they protest where the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet, is docked in Istanbul, Nov. 3, 2021. (Reuters)
People shout slogans as they protest where the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet, is docked in Istanbul, Nov. 3, 2021. (Reuters)
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Turkey Detains 17 People over Protest against US Navy Personnel in Istanbul

People shout slogans as they protest where the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet, is docked in Istanbul, Nov. 3, 2021. (Reuters)
People shout slogans as they protest where the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet, is docked in Istanbul, Nov. 3, 2021. (Reuters)

Turkish authorities detained 17 people on Wednesday for putting a hood over the head of a visiting US Navy civilian employee in a protest against United States policy in the Middle East, the Istanbul governor’s office said.

The group that carried out the act, the Turkey Youth Union (TGB), shared images on Twitter of the incident, in which a group of people chanted anti-US slogans at their target.

“You are our enemy and you are not wanted here. We will not allow US soldiers to roam free in our lands. Yankee go home,” the group said, criticizing US support for Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters who are considered terrorists by Ankara.

The 17 people detained had targeted a civilian employee of a US Navy ship that “came to our city as part of a port visit”, the governor’s office said in a statement. It did not elaborate on any possible charges against the group.

On Monday, the captain of the USS Mount Whitney vessel said his crew was looking forward to visiting Turkey and “enhancing our relationship with our Turkish allies” as it sailed through the Bosphorus to join NATO activities in the Black Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin complained this week about the ship’s presence in the region, and Russia’s Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets.

The TGB carried out a similar act in 2014 by putting a hood over the head of US soldiers returning from an exercise in the Black Sea region.

Relations between the United States and Turkey - NATO allies - have been strained in recent years by differences over policy in Syria, Ankara’s purchase of Russian air defense systems as well as its human rights record.



Chinese Navy Helicopter Flies within 10 Feet of Philippine Patrol Plane Over Disputed Shoal 

A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
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Chinese Navy Helicopter Flies within 10 Feet of Philippine Patrol Plane Over Disputed Shoal 

A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)

A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, as the Filipino pilot warned by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous.”

The helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turbo-prop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.

An Associated Press journalist and other invited foreign media representatives on the plane witnessed the tense 30-minute standoff as the Philippine plane pressed on with its low-altitude patrol around Scarborough with the Chinese navy helicopter hovering close above it or flying to its left in cloudy weather.

“You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and endangering the lives of our crew and passengers,” the Philippine pilot told the Chinese navy helicopter by radio at one point. “Keep away and distance your aircraft from us, you are violating the safety standard set by FAA and ICAO.”

The pilot was referring to the standard distance between aircraft required by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization to prevent air disasters.

The Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries said in a statement that they remain “committed to asserting our sovereignty, sovereign rights and maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, despite the aggressive and escalatory actions of China.”

They referred to the Philippine name for the stretch of waters in the South China Sea closer to the Philippines’ western coast.

Chinese officials did not immediately comment on the incident, but in past encounters they have steadfastly asserted China's sovereign rights over the Scarborough and surrounding waters and warned that its forces would protect the country's territorial interests at all costs.

Tuesday's encounter, which is expected to be protested by the Philippine government, is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long territorial standoff in one of the world’s busiest trade routes, which involves China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Confrontations on the high seas have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the last two years at Scarborough, a traditional fishing area, and the Second Thomas Shoal, where a grounded Philippine navy ship has served as a territorial outpost since 1999 but has since been closely watched by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships.

China deployed its coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships around Scarborough after a tense standoff with Philippine ships in 2012.

The following year, the Philippines brought its disputes with China to international arbitration. A 2016 decision by a United Nations-backed arbitration panel invalidated China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China, a signatory to the UNCLOS like the Philippines, refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected its outcome and continues to defy it.