| − | During the [[Syrian Civil War]] PKK and [[Peshmerga]] troops have been fighting the [[Islamic State]]. Turkish government attacks the Kurdish militants by air force hits.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33663005</ref> | + | During the [[Syrian Civil War]] PKK and [[Peshmerga]] troops have been fighting the [[Islamic State]]. Turkish government attacks the Kurdish militants by air force hits.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33663005</ref> The PKK is affiliated with the YPG, another far-left militia. The YPG is active in the war against the Islamic State and also fights [[Turkey]] and the [[Free Syrian Army]]. In 2015, the United States forced the YPG and PKK to compromise with more moderate rebels to create the [[Syrian Democratic Forces]], a rebel coalition that is anti ISIS, but not necessarily anti Assad. The YPG/PKK thought it would be the powerbroker within the SDF, but the political wing of the PKK/YPG, the Democratic Union Party, failed to win more than one seat in the Democratic Council, the SDF legislator. In 2017, Turkey, and the Free Syrian Army, backed by US airstrikes, captured terretory from ISIS that resulted in the YPG being unable to link it's territory. |