September 01, 2017
The plan for Iran and Turkey to jointly attack Kurdish rebels inside Iraq appears to have been a Turkish idea, not an Iranian one as reported last week.
Turkish news reports carried by the Iran Times last week said Maj. Gen. Hossain Baqeri, the chief of the Joint staff of Iran’s armed forces, had gone to Ankara last week and proposed joint military operations against Kurdish rebels. (See Iran Times of last week, page one.) But further reports this week indicate the idea of joint action was actually proposed to Baqeri by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Iran has denied any plan to invade Iraqi Kurdistan to attack Kurdish rebels who enjoy sanctuary there. But Baqeri has not clearly said why he made the trip to Ankara, the first by any Iranian military leader since the revolution.
Now that the wars in Iraq and Syria are coming closer to an end, both countries are logically focused more now on the Kurdish dream of an independent state.
According to Baqeri, his visit this month was “necessary to exchange views and build cooperation on the military subjects and different regional issues, issues related to the two countries’ security, security of borders and fighting against terrorism.”
According to Al-Monitor, the Iranian and Turkish sides were eager to talk to the media, both during the visit and afterward, giving hints on what the talks were about — the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, the situation in Syria’s Idlib province, both countries’ desire to combat terrorism — without missing Erdogan’s August 21 assertion that Turkey and Iran are discussing a joint military campaign in northern Iraq against the anti-Turk Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the anti-Iran Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK).
According to what Al-Monitor called a well-informed source in Tehran, the meetings in Turkey were “very important to tackle issues that are eminent and have dire consequences for the national security of both countries. The referendum on [Iraqi] Kurdistan is a matter that concerns Tehran for several reasons. The same applies to Turkey; therefore, all options — literally all options — were on the table of discussions.”
The source added, “Both countries are going to take necessary steps to make sure Iraqi Kurdistan doesn’t split from Iraq, by any means necessary,” and the officials in Iraqi Kurdistan received the message.
Iraqi Kurdistan has scheduled a referendum on independence for September 25. The referendum would not declare independence, but authorize the regional government to start talks on independence.
Erdogan suggested a joint attack, the source told Al-Monitor. “This was the Turkish president’s initiative. The PKK is a threat to Turkey’s national security as well as to Iran’s, while PEJAK, which we [in Iran] are already fighting, is the one posing a threat to Iran’s [national security]. He wanted to see both his country and Iran launching the campaign against both groups, and in return, he’s ready to be more helpful in Syria…. Still, Iran doesn’t see the PKK as an enemy.”
To Iran, ending the war in Syria requires Turkish assistance, given Ankara’s good ties with several groups that Tehran views as “terrorists.” Either Turkey abandons these groups or convinces them to disarm, and then a lasting political solution might become a reality.