US removes PYD/YPG from annual terrorism report

The previous edition of the report noted that Turkey views the Syria-based PYD/YPG as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a decades-long armed conflict in Turkey
A militant from the YPG stands next to a U.S. armored vehicle. YOUSSEF RABIE YOUSSEF/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
Thursday, 20 September 2018 22:14

The U.S. State Department omitted the PYD/YPG, Syrian Kurdish groups, from its 2017 Country Reports on Terrorism, which was released Sept. 19.

The previous edition of the report noted that Turkey views the Syria-based PYD/YPG as an extension of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, which has waged a decades-long armed conflict in Turkey, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States, the European Union and NATO.

The report also said that Turkey refers to Fethullah Gülen as the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), but the State Department described him as an “Islamic cleric”.

The US-based Islamic preacher, Fethullah Gülen, had been a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP government. Gülen network, which had been organised in the police, judiciary, military and the other states institutions, helping Erdoğan to redesign and install his Islamic-rooted AKP in power in 2002. But his alliance with the AKP has faltered in recent years. On 15 July 2016, the network of Gülen, which is also an Islamic cult, attempted to topple down Erdoğan by a military coup but it failed.

After the failed coup attempt, the government officially started to deem the network as a terrorist organization and named it "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization [FETÖ]".

"Turkey’s counterterrorism efforts were impacted in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt due to the government’s investigation of FETÖ," the report said.