As the sailors broke free, their assailants chased them and shouted “Yankee go home!” and “Down with U.S. imperialism!”

The United States Embassy in Ankara issued a strong condemnation. “The video showing an assault on three visiting American sailors is appalling,” it said in a statement published on Twitter. “While we respect the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression, we condemn today’s attack in Istanbul.”

The Turkish government’s immediate response to the assault was conspicuously less forceful.

via U.S. Sailors Assaulted by Turkish Nationalists in Istanbul – NYTimes.com.