After loud protests from Turkey, U.S. special operations forces in Syria have been ordered to remove shoulder patches from the Kurdish militia group known as the YPG.
“Wearing those YPG patches was unauthorized and inappropriate,” U.S. military spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Friday from Baghdad.
On Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the distinctive yellow and green shoulder patches were an effort by U.S. advisers to blend in with the forces they were partnering with.
The patches were visible in photographs of U.S. forces taken by an Agence France-Presse photographer earlier this week, images that showed U.S. special operators in Syria working with Syrian Democratic Forces.
But after an angry protest by Turkey, a close NATO ally, the patches were quickly ordered removed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was “unacceptable” for the U.S. troops to be “disguised” as YPG members, a group that Turkey says has links to the PKK or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which both Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist group.
But the State Department insists the two groups are not affiliated, and spokesman Mark Toner made no apologies for U.S. troops working with the YPG forces.
“Our belief that the YPG is not connected to the PKK, which we have designated as a foreign terrorist organization,” Toner said.
U.S. special operations forces have a “a long and proud history,” of wearing such patches when partnering with forces around the world, Warren said. “This is something that they often do, and it’s an effort to, you know, just kind of connect with those that they’re training.”
But Warren said in this case the soldiers didn’t take into account the political sensitivities of the insignia. “The bottom line and the important thing is that the situation has been corrected and that we have communicated to our allies that such conduct was inappropriate and it was unauthorized.”
At the State Department, Toner said the U.S. would continue advising and assisting the YPG. “We believe the YPG, as well as other forces in Syria, northern Syria, are effectively taking the fight to ISIL. And we’re going to continue to support them.”
Pete Kasperowicz contributed to this report.
