US Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu Feb. 15 that the United States believes that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is responsible for the deaths of 13 Turkish citizens who perished during a Turkish offensive against the militants in Iraqi Kurdistan that was launched Feb. 10.

The US State Department said in a readout of the call that Blinken “expressed condolences for the deaths of Turkish hostages in northern Iraq and affirmed our view that PKK terrorists bear responsibility.”

The statement appeared to walk back the State Department's statement from a day earlier that suggested the US government did not necessarily buy Turkey’s version of how the Turks being held by the PKK had died. “If the reports of the death of Turkish civilians at the hands of the PKK, a designated terrorist organization, are confirmed, we condemn this action in the strongest possible terms,” the Feb. 14 statement said.

The wording was interpreted by Ankara as lending credence to PKK claims that Turkish forces are to blame for the deaths, and prompted a fierce reaction from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.