Turkish authorities accuse the YPG of being linked to the banned PKK Kurdish militant group, which the Turks, along with the European Union and USA, regard as a terrorist organisation.
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Turkey maintains the YPG is no different from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Ankara and Washington regard as a terrorist organization.
On Friday, a Turkish official publicly expressed dismay that the American troops were photographed wearing the YPG patches.
In some, soldiers identified as United States special forces by the AFP photographer are seen wearing the patch of the local Kurdish fighters.
Yet many experts say the SDF are mostly Kurdish fighters linked to the YPG with only a small cadre of Sunni Arabs.
Wearing patches of partner units or nations while forward deployed is not authorized for USA servicemembers, Army Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S-led anti-Islamic State group coalition, told reporters Friday.
“Everybody’s moving on”, Warren said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today condemned the United States’ support of Kurdish fighters in Syria after AFP pictures revealed USA commandos wearing the insignia of a militia branded a terror group by Ankara.
Ankara classifies the YPG as a terrorist organization that wants to create an autonomous Kurdish state.
“It is not acceptable for United States soldiers to wear YPG terrorist arm badges”.
Earlier on Friday, a day after the photos emerged, Ankara accused the U.S., a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, of “unacceptable” behaviour for such an overt display of support for the group. “They can also wear the Boko Haram insignia when they go to Africa”, Cavusoglu said.
In a Friday press briefing, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that “our belief is that the YPG is not connected to the PKK”.
According to Warren, U.S. Special Forces have worn local militia patches in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past but the political sensitivity related to the YPG made the practice inappropriate.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the USA on Saturday for its “support” of PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wings, PYD and YPG.
“Of course we will not succeed in the fight against terrorism through this understanding as it is today”, he said.
The US has a small contingency of roughly 200 military personnel in Syria presently, with the main mission of training and consulting Kurdish fighters in their fight against IS.
“You know, I looked at them and it was hard to tell”.
“Turkey’s been an active member of the anti-Daesh coalition, continues to be an active member”.
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“And we believe, as I said, in the context of northern Syria and in the context of our battle to defeat and degrade Daesh in northern Syria, we view them as an effective partner along with other members of the Syrian Democratic Forces”, the spokesperson said.
