A U.S. commander who landed in Syria’s Karachok region was briefed by Abdi Ferhad Şahin, one of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party’s (PKK) most wanted terrorists.
A team of U.S. commanders and soldiers visited the Karachock region accompanied by Redur Xelil, spokesman for the PKK-affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG), and Ferhad Şahin.
Photographs of U.S. commanders with PKK and YPG terrorists emerged the morning after the Turkish Armed Forces bombed PKK targets in Iraq’s Sinjar and Syria’s Karachock regions as part of counterterrorism operations.
U.S. Colonel John Dorrian, spokesman of the Global Coalition Against Daesh, said “We were visiting our allies” regarding the visit.
U.S. troops traveled to Karachock with helicopters and inspected the damage of the airstrikes alongside PKK and YPG terrorists.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Şahin is on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s list of most wanted terrorists, and has a bounty of TL 4,000,000 (USD 1,123,532).
Şahin, whose codename is “Şahin Cilo,” is a senior member of the PKK and was a part of the European PKK operations in 1998.
When asked about the photographs, deputy spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State Mark Toner said: “I haven’t seen those pictures, but I would strongly call into question that senior military leaders of the U.S. were somehow glad-handing or shaking hands with PKK leaders.”
“The PKK is a recognized foreign terrorist organization by the United States,” he added.
The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
