Attack on US sailors highlights state of US-Turkish ties
US officials condemn the Istanbul attack on three US sailors as "ugly and disturbing," and say it is “a great discredit upon the Turks and the Turkish reputation for hospitality.”
The Nov. 12 attack by a group of Turkish nationalist youth in Istanbul on three US sailors on shore leave from the USS Ross poses a new test for Ankara and Washington, whose ties are already strained over developments in Syria.
Diplomats are trying to limit the damage, but the leniency shown to the youth by Turkish authorities and the lack of a strong condemnation by the government, apart from a brief statement by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, is said to have increased the anger on the US side.
The attack by the group attached to the fanatically anti-American Turkish Youth Union (TGB) also comes just days before a visit to Turkey by US Vice President Joe Biden, who's scheduled to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
These talks are already clouded by the controversy Biden caused in October when he attributed remarks about Syria to Erdogan, during an Oct. 2 address to students at Harvard University.
