The U.S. soldiers are believed to be among the crew of the U.S. Navy warship "USS Mount Whitney" which is currently docked at Sarayburnu Port. After staying in Istanbul for three days, the warship will then sail to the Black Sea for exercise.

Aydınlık, the newspaper of the Patriotic Party, has also released photos from the scene of the incident.

In the photos, it is seen that civilian people indicated to be U.S. soldiers are taking a hit from TGB members.

In 2014, TGB members had also put sacks over the heads of the crew of the American warship USS ROSS (DDG71) as it was returning from a NATO exercise in the Black Sea.

The TGB is undertaking this action as a form of a protest to a July 2003 incident in which a group of Turkish special forces operating in northern Iraq were arrested by U.S. soldiers and led away with hoods over their heads to be interrogated. They were released after 60 hours in response to protests by top Turkish leaders, but what became known as “the hood event” was viewed by many Turks as a deliberate insult.