Senate Hearing: Carter and Dunford Questioned on Arming the YPG

Secretary Carter, have you ever heard of the PYD? I have, yes.

Who are they? They're a Kurdish, uh, group, uh... ...uh, one of several...

uh, a number of... Have you heard of the YPG? I have heard of them also.

Who are they? Another Kurdish group.

Aren't they the military wing of the PYD?

Uh, uh, they are, yes. Is that right, General Dunford? That is correct.

The leftist Syrian Kurdish political party founded in 2003.

Reports indicate

that they are aligned or at least have substantial ties to the PKK.

Is that true? Uh, yes, we have in... uh... uh... Is the PKK a terrorist

organization in the eyes of the Turkish government?

Uh, the PKK is a terrorist organization not only in the

eyes of the Turkish government, but in the eyes of the U.S.

government as well, uh, Senator.

Is it surprising to you that the Turks may be upset with us by

arming the YPG in Syria since they're so closely aligned with the

PKK? No, it's not...

no, it's not at all, Senator. We have exten... let me just clarify,

let me just say that and then... and the Chairman's been involved in this as well.

This is... we have extensive,

uh, consultations with the Turks about... So Turkey's okay with this?

Preci... they're not okay, uh,

with that... I just got back from Turkey. They're not okay with this.

They think this is the dumbest idea in the world, and I agree with them.

How many... how many of the Syrian Democratic Forces or whatever we're talking

about are Kurds versus Arabs, General Dunford?

There's about... there's about 6,000 Arabs, uh, Senator.

Uh, well, what percentage of the force is that? Uh, that's... that's about, uh,

20 percent.

Okay. So, if you're wondering why Turkey is a little upset, we're arming

people inside

of Syria aligned with a terrorist group,

uh, that's fighting the Turkish government. Turkey could do more,

but I think this whole concept is, quite frankly, uh, absurd.

I just got back from Saudi Arabia.