United States special operations forces, photographed in Syria on May 25, 2016, wearing the insignia of Kurdish troops have been ordered to remove the patches.
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Wearing patches of partner units or nations while forward deployed is not authorized for US servicemembers, Army Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S-led anti-Islamic State group coalition, told reporters Friday.
The US troops were supporting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), headed by the YPG, in an offensive targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Raqqa.
“There’s political sensitivities around the organization that patch represents”, Warren explained, adding that Turkey is an important North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally and that the Special Forces operatives needed to “understand the larger strategic context”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was “unacceptable” that USA special forces would be wearing shoulder patches of the People’s Protection Units, a Kurdish group known as the YPG. The U.S. and Turkey regard the PKK as a terror group, it having fought a three decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu declared the US alliance with the group “unacceptable” but the State Department denied that relations are in crisis.
“There’s political sensitivities around the organization that that patch represents, and that makes it inappropriate”, Warren told Pentagon reporters Friday.
“With respect to Turkey’s comments about these photos we’ve been very clear… about our belief that the YPG is not connected to the PKK”, Toner said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said “Australians must understand that if they go and fight in conflicts like that, they are breaking Australian law”.
Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as United States special operations forces ride in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa on May 25, 2016.
Both instances involve a manipulation of insignia, although in the US case there is no official attempt to deny the presence of USA soldiers in Syria.
On Friday, a Turkish official publicly expressed dismay that the American troops were photographed wearing the YPG patches.
On Friday, Turkey accused the US of being “two-faced” for refusing to refer to the Syrian Kurds (YPG) as terrorists.
“We’re working with Syrian Arabs, Syrian Turkmen, and other groups that are fighting Daesh”, Toner said, adding the United States regards the YPG “as an effective partner” and will continue to work with them as part of the SDF.
Asked to comment on Cavusoglu’s remarks and whether it could signal a crisis between the USA and Turkey, Toner declined, citing “operational security”.
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“There is no question about it – we have troops on the ground there, special forces”. But President Barack Obama has authorized the deployment of 250 more.
