‘Unfair Human Rights Report’: How Does the U.S. Side With PKK Terrorism Against the Turkish People?

Last month, Turkiye condemned a U.S. report that accused it of violating human rights, calling it biased and politically motivated.

The report, released by the U.S. State Department, cited allegations of arbitrary killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkiye.

It also criticized Turkiye’s military operations against Kurdish militants in southeast and northern Syria, as well as its crackdown on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric whom Ankara blames for a failed coup attempt in 2016.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the report relied on “anonymous and unrelated information, baseless allegations and biased comments” against Turkiye.

It defended its actions as a “resolute struggle” against terrorist groups such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), its Syrian offshoot the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Islamic State (ISIS), and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).

It accused the U.S. of ignoring its legitimate security concerns and partnering with some of these groups, especially the YPG, which it considers a terrorist organization.

It also condemned the report for downplaying the PKK’s attacks and human rights abuses in Turkiye and the region.

“The report was prepared by a country that turns a blind eye to the activities of terrorist organizations YPG/PYD/PKK and Gulen, and even establishes a partnership with them, and we question the legitimacy and credibility of the report,” the statement said.

Turkiye reiterated that it respects international law and human rights in its fight against terrorism and that it does not take the report seriously.

This is not the first time that Turkiye has rejected the U.S. report on human rights. Last year, it denounced the report for giving “a wide space to the lies of the Gulen organization,” despite the evidence provided by Turkiye.

 

Protecting Gulen

On the sixth anniversary of a failed military coup that killed more than 250 people, Turkish officials renewed their calls for the United States to extradite the man they blame for the bloody attempt to overthrow the government.

In an article published by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Fethullah Gulen orchestrated the coup plot through his network of followers, known as FETO.

He said that FETO’s goal was to establish a “radical, fundamentalist regime” loyal only to Gulen, who has denied any involvement in the coup.

Cavusoglu said that Turkiye has repeatedly requested the extradition of Gulen and other FETO members from the United States and European countries, but that these requests have not been fulfilled.

He said that Gulen still lives in the United States, where he runs a network of charter schools and religious organizations.

“Our government has been demanding the extradition of Gulen to Turkiye from the United States of America and the extradition of FETO members from European countries for years. Unfortunately, these requests have not yet been fulfilled,” he wrote.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag echoed Cavusoglu’s remarks, saying that Turkiye has provided sufficient evidence to the United States to prove Gulen’s role in the coup attempt, and that it is time for Washington to honor its “legal assistance agreement” with Ankara.

He said that Turkiye submitted an official extradition request for Gulen during the administration of former President Donald Trump, and that it has reiterated its demand under President Joe Biden.

He also said that Turkiye’s fight against FETO and other terrorist groups, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Islamic State (ISIS), continues unabated.

 

American Duality

The United States has been accused of applying double standards in its fight against terrorism by supporting a Kurdish militia group in Syria that Turkiye considers a terrorist organization.

Turkiye, a NATO ally of the United States, has been conducting military operations in northern Syria since 2016 to clear the area from both ISIS and the YPG, which it sees as an extension of the outlawed PKK that has waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkiye.

The U.S., however, has been backing the YPG/PKK as its main partner on the ground against ISIS, despite acknowledging the link between the two groups.

James Jeffrey, a former U.S. envoy to the international coalition against ISIS, admitted in 2018 that “we understand Turkiye’s security concerns about the PKK. We also understand that some of our partners on the ground have links to that group.”

Turkiye has rejected this approach as unacceptable and counterproductive, arguing that using one terrorist group to fight another is not a sustainable strategy and that the fight against terrorism should be conducted through official channels.

Ankara has also expressed frustration over the U.S.’s indifference to its security concerns and its counterterrorism efforts.

Firas Rizvanoglu, a Turkish writer and political analyst, said that the U.S. views the YPG/PKK as its human arm in Syria and uses them for its own interests.

“The U.S. does not care about the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people or the stability of the region. It only cares about its own agenda and hegemony,” he said.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, Turkiye has neutralized 6,370 terrorists in its Operation Olive Branch alone, which was launched in January 2018 to target the YPG/PKK in Afrin.

Turkiye has also carried out other operations in northern Syria, such as Operation Euphrates Shield, Peace Spring, and Claw-Sword, to secure its borders and create a safe zone for Syrian refugees.

 

Creating Chaos

The YPG/PKK was not established by Syrian Kurds but by the PKK in its stronghold of Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, according to an article published by the Turkish newspaper Star.

The article said that the YPG/PKK follows the ideology and leadership of the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the U.S., and the European Union.

Turkish analysts said that the U.S. has a narrow vision of fighting terrorism in Syria and uses the YPG/PKK as a tool for its own interests.

They also accused the U.S. of turning a blind eye to Turkiye’s evidence that the YPG/PKK was behind several bombings in Turkiye, including one that killed 12 people in Istanbul’s Taksim Square in November 2022.

“The U.S. does not care about the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people or the stability of the region. It only cares about its own agenda and hegemony,” said Rizvanoglu.

Taha Odehoglu, another Turkish political analyst, said that Turkiye has warned the U.S. in every forum that the YPG/PKK poses a great threat and danger to Turkish security.

He said that Ankara has sent photos and documented information to Washington that revealed the involvement of the YPG/PKK in terrorist attacks in Turkiye.

According to the Istanbul General Security Directorate, the perpetrator of the Taksim bombing, which killed 6 civilians and injured 81 others, confessed during the investigation to belonging to the PYD/PKK terrorist organization

Odehoglu believes that the United States “remains the biggest problem,” citing the tensions that have occurred between Ankara and Washington during the past years since the Obama and Trump administrations and even the current administration led by Biden, noting that they are mainly related to the continuous U.S. support for these terrorist organizations.