Those sensitivities are likely from fellow NATO-member Turkey, as Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu issued a statement blasting the “two-faced” United States for wearing YPG patches, saying the United States troops might as well also wear the patches of ISIS and al-Qaeda when they operate in northern Syria.
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Turkey issued a stern rebuke Friday after images emerged of USA ground forces wearing the insignia of a Syrian Kurdish militia during operations against Islamic State. Turkish leaders who protested the patches have been told it was a mistake.
Photos of United States special operations forces wearing the insignia surfaced this week, and Turkish leaders protested to the US.
Ankara reacted with fury after AFP published pictures of USA special forces working with the Kurdish PYG forces in northern Turkey and wearing their insignia.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast.
The U.S. government also designates the PKK as a terrorist organization but says it regards the YPG as a separate group.
Turkey’s foreign minister suggested his country could carry out joint military operations with the United States to oust the Islamic State group from Syria.
“Our suggestion to them is that they should also wear Daesh, al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda insignias during their operations in other regions of Syria”.
“What I will say is that special operations forces when they operate in certain areas do what they can to, if you will, blend in with the community to enhance their own protection, their own security”, he said.
The AFP photographer saw USA forces on the ground in northern Syria helping the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a major offensive against IS in its Raqa province stronghold.
Yet Turkish cooperation is critical for the US-led fight against IS, with coalition war planes using the southern Turkish base of Incirlik as a hub for attacks on the group.
Examples of this can be seen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Latin America and other places around the globe as an effort by USA forces to connect with those they are training. Others have the patch of a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara classifies the YPG as a terrorist organization that wants to create an autonomous Kurdish state.
“I can say that Russian Aerospace Forces managed to stop deliveries of smuggled oil from Syria to Turkey nearly entirely”. Special Operations Forces and their counterparts typically swap unit patches as a method to build trust …
“We are ready but instead of implementing the agreement, (U.S. soldiers) are going and wearing the patches of the YPG”, he said.
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Capt. Davis declined to comment specifically on what kind of role American forces would take in a joint mission with Turkey in northern Syria, or when Pentagon officials planned to respond to Ankara’s offer.
