Germany armed Kurds with anti Tank missiles after selling Tanks to the Turks.
Updated: May 16, 2022
In 2014 Germany decided that it was going to arm the Kurds who were fighting against ISIS. It sent Rifles, machine guns, grenades, MILAN anti-tank systems and armored vehicles to the Iraqi Kurds, the Peshmergra, provided they use the weapons themselves and not sell them in the black market or to other military groups in the region. However that's exactly what they did. The Iraqi kurds then gave/sold those German Anti Tank missiles to the Syrian Kurds like the PKK and the YPG, whom they have intimate ties with, and who later would use it against Turkish armed forces.
In September 2014 YPG released a video showing them using a MILAN anti tank system (min 2:01). Germany stopped weapons shipments to the Iraqi Kurds in 2016 after media reports emerged showing German weapons meant to fight ISIS were being sold on the black market. Other reports showed that the YPG was using German made MILAN anti missile systems already in 2015. Although the German government stated that they will take maximum precautions to prevent the weapons being passed on to a third party, the new model MILAN missiles which were given to the Peshmerga were reported to be in the hands of the YPG and the PKK. The Free Syrian Army, which is being supported by Turkey, also seized the hundreds of German Milan anti-tank missiles in villages YPG abandoned near Cerablus near the Turkish-Syrian border. All of this did not stop Germany from resuming their massive weapon shipments to the Kurds, including anti tank missiles, in 2016.
Empty MILAN cartridges found by the free Syrian Army in YPG abandoned positions.
Ironically or not, Turkey's main battle Tank is the Leopard 1 and the Leopard 2 was manufactured by Germany and sold to Turkey in 2005. Turkey purchased hundreds of them and those are the tanks it uses in military operations, like the in Afrin in 2018 and these days in Northern Syria. So even after it became clear that the German anti tank missiles are ending up in the hands of the Syrian Kurdish groups, the YPG/PKK, Germany continued to supply them to the Kurds, knowing full well they would probably be used against their fellow NATO ally, Turkey.
The German made Leopard 2.
Not many people know but "pacifist" Germany is today the fourth largest exporter of arms in world, selling weapons and missiles to countries like Saudi Arabia which are then used to bomb Yemeni civilians and kids. And today we have a situation where Kurdish owned German made MILAN anti tank missiles are being used against Turkish owned German made Leopard tanks in Northern Syria. It would appear that "pacifist" Germany is not so pacifist after all, at least when it comes to arming both sides of a conflict.
