US Special Forces Commander Raymond Thomas confessed that they instructed the People's Protection Units (PYD) to change the name due to Turkey’s insist that the PKK and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) are the same terrorist organizations.
The United States Special Forces Commander Raymond Thomas addressed an event organized by the ASPEN Institute, a think tank from the U.S. Confessing that they made great effort with Brett Mcgurk, the U.S. envoy in northern Syria, to legalize the PKK-PYD terrorist organization, Thomas said the name was changed within a day upon their instruction to the organization.
Another confession by General Thomas was that the United States transformed the PKK, which is currently included in the terror list of the U.S., into a regular army in Syria. Receiving limited military training support from the U.S., German and British experts, the PKK had a militant capacity of 3,500 to 5,000 people across Syria until mid-2014.
The attacks by Daesh from Jarabulus to Ayn al-Arab, which got involved in the Syrian civil war in 2013, and separated the opposition front, became the turning point for the PYD terrorist organization which comprises of thousands of people. The "Coalition Force" established under the leadership of the United States against Daesh that faced Ayn al-Arab in July 2015 directly addressed the PYD, and supported the terrorist organization by considering it as its land force. Provided with arms and ammunition aid from air and land, the PYD became a qualified army that possesses tanks, anti-aircrafts, advanced missiles and 35,000 trained militants at the end of 2017.
The first attempt to legalize the PKK was the announcement of the Euphrates Volcano, a front structure. The group that included PKK-linked Arab factions dispersed in a short time. The PKK-U.S. alliance sought for a new structuring after the Euphrates Volcano was dispersed, and ensured the infrastructure of new occupations with a new front organization called the "Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]." It was established as a front organization directly connected to the PYD in terms of arms, ammunition, salary and management. Known as comprising between 1,000 and 1,500 people in total, the front structure continues to be justification of arms, ammunition and training support by the U.S. to the PKK.
