Turkish officials are reacting with outrage today after a tweet from US Central Command saying that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition which is almost exclusively made up of members of the Kurdish YPG, denied any affiliation or ties with the banned PKK, a terrorist organization in Turkey.
Turkey’s government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin accused Centcom of having “lost its senses” in making the claim, while Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States speculated that Kurdish hackers had somehow hacked Centcom’s Twitter account to post the statement.
The US has long backed the YPG against ISIS, arguing that the group, the military wing of the PYD, is distinct from the PKK. Turkey has long insisted they, and virtually all Kurdish groups, are all one and the same, and are all a terrorist organization on part with ISIS.
President Erdogan went on to issue a statement warning the US that “no one has a right” to express doubt about the YPG’s affiliation with the PKK. Turkey has been complaining about US support for the Kurds virtually since the beginning of their involvement in Syria on this argument.
