Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has expressed indignation at photos showing US troops dining with Kurdish militants near the Turkish border in Syria.

“These photos have found wide coverage in our media and disturbed our people. They tarnished the image of the US and its army… for the Turkish public,” he was quoted by the official Anatolia news agency as saying.

The pictures dated November 11 shows US troops having a US Veterans Day dinner with members of the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG) militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria.