The photo above, of a Kurdish fighter nursing an orphaned baby bear, is a controversial one. It appeared on The Washington Post's front page on March 8, 2008, alongside a dispatch by Post correspondent Joshua Partlow from northern Iraq, where he was among Kurdish rebels battling an offensive by the Turkish army. The fighters belonged to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged a three-decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Ankara, as well as by Washington and many other Western governments. It has the blood of thousands on its hands, say its detractors. Critics attacked The Post's story as romanticizing the outfit, particularly with the inclusion of such cuddly images. The reaction led to a meticulous report from the paper's ombudsman a week later that said the story needed "more history and context" and cited a lengthy criticism from Turkey's then deputy chief of mission at its Washington embassy.

Burak Akcapar said the story "was sympathetic and glorified an infamous and deadly terrorist organization," which was "indiscriminate in who [it kills]." He was also unimpressed by the image of the PKK fighter holding the baby bear, which, Partlow and photographer Andrea Bruce were told, had lost its mother amid Turkish bombing of PKK positions. "I don't understand why a terrorist is carrying a baby milk bottle," said Akcapar.

Six years later, and the Turkish government is still adamant fighters like the man pictured are terrorists. But there is an increasing number of people who disagree.

As the Post has covered extensively, the PKK and a web of other Kurdish militias are leading the ground war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. In the past month, global attention has focused on the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane, a Kurdish bastion that the jihadists of the Islamic State have failed to capture.


koment ts

pecaksogol lg disusuin sm kampret.gantenk