Washington Post disavows saying ‘US forces train PKK,’ but Türkiye has shown how terror group just used another name
‘US forces were not training PKK members,’ says Washington Post, but for years Türkiye has strenuously objected to US support for terrorist group
WASHINGTON
The Washington Post has issued a "correction" on a photo it published on Jan. 28 with a caption saying in part: “US forces provide military training to (the) PKK,” yet in fact the caption was correct, and acknowledged a fact the US has refused to admit.
With the photo taken in Syria’s Hasakah region, a US newspaper for the first time acknowledged that the organization that the US army calls the SDF is in fact the same organization as the PKK – a group recognized as a terrorist group by the US, EU, and Türkiye.
The Washington Post later said: “A photo with a Jan. 28 Federal Insider column about women in Special Operations forces, which was provided by Getty Images, contained inaccurate caption information that cited U.S. military forces training members of the PKK, a militant group. The U.S. forces were not training members of the PKK, which operates in Turkey and Iraq and has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States.”
But in fact for years Türkiye has strenuously objected to US support for the YPG/PKK terrorist group, documenting with extensive evidence how the PKK and YPG are in actuality the same terrorist group that has attacked Türkiye for decades, taking tens of thousands of lives.
Anadolu recorded how US forces were training the PKK
The photo used in the Washington Post story was published by Anadolu on Sept. 7, 2022, and was supplied to the international media via Anadolu’s agreement with Getty Images.
The photo taken by a Anadolu photojournalist in the Hasakah countryside in northern Syria shows PKK/YPG terror group members being trained by US troops, with American Bradley armored vehicles in silhouette in the background.
Leading the coalition against the terrorist group Daesh/ISIS, the US supported PKK/YPG terrorists in Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, east of the Euphrates, with armed training and exercises.
Since 2015, the United States and its coalition forces have provided armed training and truckloads of weapons and ammunition to thousands of PKK/YPG terrorists, who sometimes also use the labels PYD and SDF.
The US administration and media, ignoring extensive evidence Türkiye has supplied since the beginning of the Syrian civil war as well as press and intelligence reports, do not accept that the YPG/PYD/SDF is an extension of the terrorist group PKK.
Facing a Turkish backlash over support for the terrorist group, the US suggested that the terrorist group PKK/YPG use the name SDF as a way to “rebrand” and disguise its true terrorist identity, as recounted by US Army Gen. Raymond Thomas in a 2017 Anadolu article (“US urged PKK/PYD to change name for legitimacy”).
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the European Union, and the US, and is responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK’s Syrian branch.
