Ankara: Last week, Turkey dealt a major blow to the corridor that the PKK terrorist group and its extension in Syria, the YPG, have formed throughout northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish Armed Forces killed one of the terrorist ringleaders in northern Iraq during a joint operation on May 8. The ringleader was identified by the interior ministry and Interpol as Sofi Nurettin, code-named Halef El Muhammed, one of the top leaders of the PKK who led all armed activities from Syria to Turkey.
The operation took place just before a U.S. delegation visited the northeastern region occupied by the YPG terrorist group in Syria. The assessment and information that Nurettin had moved from Syria to northern Iraq in early May to meet with U.S. officials had been made public.
Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials met with the YPG and affiliated groups on Monday this week. Among them were Acting Assistant Secretary Joey Hood, Acting Special Representative for Syria Aimee Cutrona and National Security Council Director for Iraq and Syria Zehra Bel.
Security sources estimate that the results of the operation will be seen soon, given how close the U.S. has kept its engagement with the YPG’s top leadership recently.
In addition, in terms of understanding the symbiotic link between the PKK and the YPG, the operation is not only a major blow by Turkey against the group, but it also exposes an ongoing U.S. policy that aims to separate those two structures and thus legitimize the YPG.
But information from the field shows that these U.S. initiatives and support are not enough to convince the terrorist group as another development in the YPG’s relationship with Washington recently occurred. YPG supporters attacked U.S. Army vehicles with stones in Al-Malikiyah district in northern Syria this week which is under control of the Russia and regime.
According to news reports, YPG supporters held a demonstration against Turkey’s ongoing operations in northern Iraq and chanted slogans in support of the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan. In the video footage released by a pro-YPG website operating from Germany, terrorist supporters stoned armored vehicles of the U.S. Army on the pretext that the U.S. remained unresponsive to Turkey’s operations against terrorist targets in northern Iraq.
The U.S. has primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group. Turkey strongly opposes the YPG’s presence in northern Syria, which has been a major sticking point in strained Turkey-U.S. relations. – Agencies
