A Turkish report about foreigners, including Americans, joining Kurds in Syria to fight against the Islamic State (IS) is attracting lots of media attention. The Turkish government fears these "non-Salafi/jihadi foreign fighters" might be strengthening the Kurds' war within a war: the effort to create a Kurdish state while simultaneously battling IS. 

The report, prepared by the Turkish Police Academy and released in May, also warns that these fighters — who aren't necessarily motivated by religious or financial goals but rather by ideology — eventually will return to the West and pose as much danger as "radical 'Islamist' returnees."

The US government supports the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the war on IS. However, the SDF alliance includes the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD) — Syrian offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The report, titled "PKK's Regional Franchise of Terror," says more than 400 non-Salafi/jihadi foreign fighters, both men and women, are fighting for the YPG. The report says the PKK’s regional terror network is being supported by Marxist, communist and social anarchist Western fighters, constituting a new element of multinational crime and terror links.