Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations forces are seen in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa on May 25, 2016. US-backed Syrian fighters and Iraqi forces pressed twin assaults against the Islamic State group, in two of the most important ground offensives yet against the jihadists. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), formed in October 2015, announced on May 24 its push for IS territory north of Raqa city, which is around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the Syrian-Turkish border and home to an estimated 300,000 people. The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) -- largely considered the most effective independent anti-IS force on the ground in Syria -- but it also includes Arab Muslim and Christian fighters. - AFP PHOTO

ANTALYA, Turkey: Turkey yesterday accused its NATO ally the United States of "unacceptable" behavior after US commandos in Syria were pictured assisting a Kurdish militia that is branded a terror group by Ankara and even wearing their insignia. The scathing accusations of "hypocrisy" and "double standards" levelled by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu came after an AFP photographer saw US troops in Syria wearing insignia of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara regards the YPG as a terror group, accusing it of carrying out attacks inside Turkey and being the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for over three decades. However, Washington sees the YPG as the most effective fighting force against Islamic State jihadists in Syria.

"We advise them (US troops) to wear badges of Daesh (IS) or (Al-Qaeda affiliate) Al-Nusra when they go to other parts of Syria and badges of Boko Haram when they go to Africa," Cavusoglu said with angry sarcasm. "If they don't see these (groups) as the same as the YPG, then this is double standards, hypocrisy," he said at a news conference in the southern resort of Antalya.

'Two Different Wars'

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey Research Programme at the Washington Institute, told AFP the dispute highlighted a "long-term problem facing the US-Turkish relationship". He said Turkey and the United States were "effectively fighting two different wars in Syria", with Washington focused on the fight against IS and Turkey still working to defeat President Bashar Al-Assad's regime.

The AFP photographer saw US forces on the ground in northern Syria helping the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a major offensive against IS in its Raqa province stronghold. Several US commandos were also photographed wearing the military insignia of the YPG, which make up the bulk of the SDF. "It is unacceptable for the soldiers of the United States - our ally which is very assertive in the fight against terror - to use or wear the badges of a terror organization," Cavusoglu said.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Ankara, told AFP the dispute had been "poisoning" US-Turkey relations. "The US sees the YPG as a local actor who can be cooperated with in Syria. Whereas Turkey, rightfully, sees it as the PKK's partner in Syria," he said, adding it was unlikely the differences would be bridged in the future.

'YPG Unreliable'

The United States, like the European Union, classifies the PKK as a terror group. But it has resisted lobbying from Turkey to also outlaw the YPG and stop working with the group in Syria. Cavusoglu insisted that in private talks with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry the United States had said the YPG "are not reliable" and vowed Washington would "stand by Turkey in the fight against terrorism". "And then they wear the badges of the terrorist organisation responsible for the last two attacks in Ankara," he said.

Turkey blamed the YPG for attacks in the capital this year that killed dozens, even though they were claimed by a PKK splinter group the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK). Ankara has repeatedly said it makes no distinction between "terror" organizations, be it IS, the PKK or the YPG. A statement released Thursday after a meeting of Turkey's National Security Council complained the YPG and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD) had been allowed to open offices in EU cities including Prague, Stockholm, Berlin and Paris. "Giving encouragement and capacities to terrorists who have shed blood in Turkey is incompatible with any friendship and alliance," it said. - AFP