Police release 7 people who protested US aircraft carrier

A group of members of the Turkey Youth Union (TGB) were detained after shouting anti-American slogans and protesting the USS Abraham Lincoln’s docking at the port. The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has a crew of 5,000 sailors and holds 80 aircraft. The future route of the ship has not yet been announced. The crew will enjoy services in a residential facility in the port during their stay in Antalya.

The US has recently bulked up its navy presence in the Gulf region and in the Middle East amid growing tensions with Iran. Iran has threatened to block oil shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic point through which Gulf oil passes to the rest of the world. The US has said it will never tolerate any attempt to blockade the strait and in that event would launch military retaliation. Whether the presence of the ship, which was in the Gulf earlier this year, is linked to the Syrian crisis and intends to counterbalance the presence of the Russian navy in the Eastern Mediterranean remains unknown.