“I am someone who believes that politics should be conducted honestly. Therefore, our allies, those who are with us in NATO, cannot and should not send their own soldiers to Syria, with insignias of the YPG," said Erdogan.
“Those who say ‘we will continue to support YPG, come and learn from us. We tell them, we give the documents on the terror groups, but they take the wrong steps,” he added.
The YPG is the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey says is a Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), thus making both the YPG and PYD terrorist organizations.
Though designating the PKK as a terrorist organization, the U.S. does not perceive the PYD and the YPG in the same way and says they are “reliable” partners in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Agence France-Presse released photos showing armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as U.S. special operations in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa on May 25. Some of the men seen in the photos wore an YPG insignia on their shoulders.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Chavushoglu has strongly reacted to the photos, saying it is saying it is “unacceptable, a double standard and hypocrisy.”
Commenting on the photos, the Pentagon acknowledged that special operations forces do what they can “to blend in with the community.”
“Special operations forces, when they operate in certain areas, do what they can to blend in with the community to enhance their own protection, their own security,” said Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook during a May 26 press briefing, adding that he would not comment on specific photos.
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