ANKARA

The formation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) more than a year ago has provided the U.S. with the opportunity to deepen its relationship with the PKK/PYD, according to security officials in Turkey and Syria.

The SDF was formed in October 2015 when the PKK/PYD -- the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, a terror group that has targeted Turkey for more than 30 years -- incorporated several fighting groups.

Many view the umbrella group as a fig leaf to disguise U.S. support for the PKK/PYD, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization but the U.S. sees as its ally in combating Daesh in Syria.

The Pentagon said Thursday that U.S. forces operate "in close proximity with" SDF fighters in northern Syria, including near the Turkish border. 

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.

According to officials in Turkey and Syria who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, the PKK/PYD makes up the upper echelons of the SDF and the bulk of its fighting force.

Images from Syria shared on social media often show militants wearing SDF and PKK/PYD insignia fighting alongside each other.

One source said the PKK/PYD had established more than 30 camps in Syria’s Al-Hasakah, Afrin and Kobani regions under the banner of the SDF.

U.S. military aid to Syria has been designated as destined for the SDF, rather than the PKK/PYD.

Abdulkarim al-Ubaid, formerly a senior figure in an SDF-affiliated Arab group, described the PKK/PYD dominance within the force.

PKK/PYD separatism

“The PKK dominates the SDF,” he told Anadolu Agency last September.

“The organization [PKK] is taking the decisions… The SDF is a cover that the PKK uses to hide its separatist goals.”

Ubaid added that he was excluded the decision-making process when he was a senior member.

One prominent member of the SDF, Sahin Cilo, has been a PKK member for 27 years, one official said.

This week he was photographed with a U.S. commander who visited Karacok in northeast Syria, where Turkey conducted airstrikes on Tuesday, killing around 70 PKK/PYD members.

A Turkish security official told Anadolu Agency that information about Cilo and other PKK/PYD figures had been sent to the U.S. and other governments to alert them but it had no effect.

The Washington Post newspaper in January reported that the PKK/PYD made up at least two-thirds of SDF fighters and that militants were immersed in the ideology espoused by Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s jailed leader.

Turkey has repeatedly called for an end to U.S. support for the PKK/PYD.