Did the US give PKK terror group two choppers that crashed in north Iraq?

On a dark March night last week, two helicopters went down in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok, killing at least nine PKK terrorists in an incident wrapped in mystery and possibly even subterfuge.

Immediately after the March 15 crash of the two France-made AS350 Eurocopters, Paris refused to comment on the incident. 

The so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a US-backed group driven by the YPG/PKK terror group – claims that the helicopters crashed due to bad weather conditions.

Days later, strong evidence started to emerge, suggesting that the helicopters were owned by the PUK, an Iraqi Kurdish group led by the powerful Talabani family based in Sulaymaniyah, a city in northeastern Iraq.

PUK founder Jalal Talabani, who became the Iraqi president after the US invasion, was the most prominent member of the family before his death in 2017. 

Rewa Haci, a Sulaymaniyah-based journalist, says that the US has facilitated the purchase of the choppers by the PUK.  

“All evolving evidence shows” that the two helicopters belonged to the PUK, whose intelligence wing Asayish “acquired them under the auspices of the United States”, Haci tells TRT World.

Mesrur Barzani, a member of another powerful Iraqi Kurdish family and Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) based in Erbil, however, said only one of the crashed helicopters belonged to the PUK. 

The Barzanis, who have led the KDP party, and the Talabanis have long clashed for control of the KRG. 

Haci says the PUK might own more helicopters, all bought from the US about nine years ago during the Iraqi invasion.

With the US’s permission, the PUK sold them to the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, he adds. PKK is recognised as a terrorist group by Washington, NATO and Ankara.  

Under the pretext of fighting against Daesh, the US has allied with the YPG terror group – a position long condemned by Türkiye for pitting one terrorist group against another. The US has always denied the YPG’s connections to the PKK, though it is an undeniable political reality obvious to many observers, including American analysts.

“PKK/YPG supporters have once again been caught red-handed by giving helicopters to terrorists. They must now understand that these are futile efforts,” Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said last week, referring to the twin chopper crash and US support to the YPG/PKK. 

While the US developed strong ties with the YPG during the Syrian civil war, Washington’s shielding of the PKK goes back to the beginning of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

Besides the US-PKK ties, the crash has also “exposed a working relationship” between the PUK and the PKK, according to Abdullah Agar, a former Turkish army officer and a security analyst. 

Haci also believes PKK-PUK ties have recently deepened across northern Iraqi and Syrian territories, which might have serious consequences for the KDP leadership in Erbil. 

Mysterious flights

Flight data shows the two helicopters were flying from Hasakah, a northeastern Syrian city under YPG control, to the PUK-ruled Sulaymaniyah. 

The helicopters’ flight path has shown that the US has ensured an air corridor to the terror group YPG/PKK, according to Haci. 

The Sulaymaniyah-based journalist even believes that “a land corridor” might have been secured by the US for the YPG/PKK to transport their terrorists between Iraqi and Syrian territories. 

Agar also has similar thoughts to Haci. “Some known and unknown PKK routes, which prove the YPG’s connections with the terror group, have been formed between Syria and Iraq.” 

Several sources say that the crew of the two helicopters were members of the so-called anti-terrorist units, YAT, of the SDF, which also admitted the helicopters were carrying its members.  

One of the killed PKK terrorists was Sherwan Kobane, the nephew of Mazlum Kobane, a PKK terrorist and the so-called leader of the SDF. Other dead figures also appeared to be leading members of the YPG/PKK. 

Last year, Bafel Jalal Talabani, the current head of the PUK, met Sherwan and Mazlum Kobane in northeastern Syria, indicating his growing political alliance with the YPG/PKK leadership against the KDP. Bafel is the older son of Jalal Talabani.

After the Syria visit, Talabani – who ousted his cousin Lahur Talabani and his supporters from the party leadership in a family feud in mid-2021 – released a Facebook video in which he is seen wearing a fancy military camouflage sporting a YAT patch and offering condolences to Kobane. 

Agar says that Talabani, who has ties with rivals US and Iran, now wants to “play a prominent role in both northern Syria and northern Iraq as an ally of the YPG/PKK”. 

PUK-PKK against KDP

The helicopter crashes carry enormous importance because it shows “a new formation” emerging in the region between the PUK and PKK, according to Agar. The US worked hard to develop a political understanding between the KDP and the YPG/PKK in northern Syria for years, but it failed to bring both sides together, the analyst says. 

“In recent years, the US has worked on another front where it aimed to persuade the PUK and the YPG/PKK to work together through the Mazlum Kobane-Bafel Talabani cooperation at the leadership level,” says Agar. They seem to have come a long way because Talabani has an inclination towards this alliance, according to Agar. 

While the PKK has faced strong opposition in the Barzani-controlled regions in northern Iraq, the terror group can easily move across areas under the PUK rule, says Agar. The PKK has formed nearly 20 bases across the Garmian region, which is located between Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, the two cities under the PUK influence, according to Agar. 

The PUK-PKK alliance aims to diminish the KDP’s influence in the Iraqi Kurdish region, which is led by a political coalition of the KDP and PUK. But the power struggle between the Talabanis and Barzanis has prevented the KRG from functioning properly, leading the PUK and its allies to boycott regional parliamentary sessions occasionally. 

The PUK-PKK alliance might push the KDP to increase its cooperation with Türkiye, which sees the Kobane-Talabani cooperation as a threat to its border and national security.  

Denial and deaths

Despite the emerging murky details, the US continues to deny any connection with the recent crash. “There was no US or coalition involvement in the helicopter incident, nor do we have any knowledge either before that mission took place,” according to Pentagon Spokesman Brig. Gen Pat Ryder. 

But the question he left unanswered is: How could a West-manufactured helicopter fly between northern Iraqi and Syrian territories where the US has a sizable presence without Washington’s knowledge? 

Another point of speculation and debate is the number of casualties in the twin crash. While the Erbil-based KRG counter-terrorism unit initially said that seven PKK members were killed, the SDF put the number at nine. 

Even the number of helicopters involved in the incident appears to be shrouded in mystery. Some initial reports suggested that one chopper crashed, but others, including the SDF, said two helicopters were down. 

“There is no report on the second helicopter,” says Agar. The security analyst believes the helicopters could have carried heavy weapons or drugs. 

As a result, different power groups in the region might try to cover up the incident, he adds.