Aug 3, 2017

The United States today broke its silence over the unremitting slew of accusations about its supposed plans to undermine Turkey through its armed support for Syrian Kurds fighting against the Islamic State (IS). The US Embassy in Ankara refuted the claims in a statement published on its website in English and in Turkish and shared via Twitter.

The statement read, “Inaccurate reports by several outlets over the past few days have erroneously claimed that the United States has sent ‘tanks’ and ‘hundreds of truckloads of weapons’ into Syria to support the YPG [Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units].” It also declared, “The United States has not provided tanks to any groups fighting Daesh in Syria,” Daesh being the Arabic acronym for IS.

The embassy said that “the majority of military assistance, which consists of light weapons and ammunition,” was being sent to the Syrian Arab coalition, the assorted Arab groups fighting under the banner of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “A much smaller percentage of weapons given to Kurdish elements of the SDF are limited, specific to task, and are only provided due to their importance in helping achieve the goal shared by all of us — i.e., the capture of Raqqa and the destruction of Daesh,” the embassy asserted.

The statement was in response to a barrage of front-page stories in Turkey's pro-government media claiming that the United States is raining military goodies on the YPG. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Washington has so far sent 909 truckloads of weapons to the YPG. An array of outlets eagerly seized and elaborated on the story.

“The YPG is being armed. Is the target Turkey?” asked Haber 10, an online news portal. Other outlets claimed that the United States had provided tanks and helicopters to the YPG and trained YPG militants to fly them. Yeni Akit, referring to the deliveries, proclaimed, “The United States plan to occupy Turkey.”