Who be-hooded the US sailors in Istanbul?

On Nov. 12, a bizarre “protest” took place in Istanbul. Near Sarayburnu, a big harbor, the American warship USS Ross had stopped by on its way back from a NATO mission in the Black Sea. Some sailors got off the ship to see the magnificent Istanbul, but a few of them saw something less fancy: A group of ultra-nationalists who were apparently prepared not only to yell, “Yankee go home,” but also make sure that they meant it. They approached two of the sailors, telling them in English, “We define you as murderers, killers.” Then they threw stuff at them, shoved them and ultimately put hoods on their heads, before letting them go.  

The attacked sailors might have feared that they would be beheaded soon, as it has become a custom of the notorious Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to be-hood people before beheading them. However, as CNN International accurately reported, apparently with some surprise, “[The attackers] did not appear to be tied to ISIL, which is based in neighboring Syria. Instead, they carried Turkish flags and a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Westernizing, secular founder of the Turkish Republic.”

Indeed, these anti-American youngsters had nothing to do with ISIL, or anything that is remotely Islamist. Rather, they were members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB), which is a hardcore secularist and nationalist group active mostly in universities. Their website is full of articles on the importance of “laiklik,” (Turkish-style secularism), and presents a photo of Atatürk wearing a “kalpak,” a conical headgear, taken during the War of Liberation. (This nuance is important, because while more mainstream “Atatürkists” use his fashionable suit-and-tie photos taken during his presidency, the...