Iraqi Kurdistan-Turkey Relations, At A Glance.

By Giorgos Dimitriadis

The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish groups who demand an independent or autonomous Kurdistan for their ethnic group, along with political and cultural rights within the Turkish Republic, seems like it is far from coming to an end. Insurgents of the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) and other rebel groups carry out attacks mainly in SouthernEastern Turkey, and Turkish police and army, clashes with Kurdish protesters, both committing numerous human rights abuses. Of course, Iraqi Kurdistan could not be excluded from this vicious circle, since this Kurdish autonomous region within the Iraqi borders is a basic launchpad for the insurgents acting in Turkey. When Kurdistan Regional Government claimed insufficiency of military forces to prevent PKK and other groups from operating, despite the fact that this region is within Iraqi territory, Turkish Air and Ground Forces have repeatedly violated the airspace and borders of their neighbor state, striking possible targets in the region and causing reactions of both Iraqi government and the Kurdish Autonomous Region's leaders. The tension in the region, at both sides of the Iraq-Turkey borders, seemed to impede any form of cooperation between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had once said Iraqi Kurdish regional President was a "bandit", and accused the latter's government for not doing enough to stop rebel groups. From

the Turkish point of view, PKK was fighting against the Turkish State in favor of the rights of all Kurds. However, the deeper, great fear of Turkey, according to analysts, was not the current conflict, but the possibility of Iraqi Kurdistan's declaration of independence as a new state. Ankara was able to realize that this action would mean the stimulation of the feelings of the Kurdish population within the Turkish borders, and their desire to declare independence too, by any means. So, any kind of political, economic or diplomatic development of Iraqi Kurdistan, may have been against Turkey's interests. But lately, as the wider region's situation became unstable, the facts of this relationship started to change. The crisis in Iraq, with Sunni opposition groups and Kurds fighting against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the continuous conflicts in mutual neighbor, Syria, brought the leadership of Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan closer. Turkish officials have even made statements about the international role of the Iraqi Kurds, and said that they consider them as an important ally, while formal visits of Regional Government's President and Prime Minister took place in Turkey, strengthening the bonds between the two leaderships. An important fact which consists an addition to this relation's built-up, is the growing tension between Turkey and Iraq's central government. Although there are periods during which Iraq and Turkey cooperate, frictions in diplomatic and political level often take place. A recent one, happened when Iraq accused Turkey for violating its airspace and striking targets within the Iraqi borders. Ankara said that the strikes were on suspected PKK militant targets, and Iraq threatened to protest to the UN for the massive

violations of its airspace by warplanes and helicopters. Through these frictions, the relations of Iraqi Kurdistan with Turkey, sometimes find their ways to bloom. Lately, energy trade issues consists the new link between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds. Turkey officially stated that started importing five to ten road tankers of crude from the autonomous Kurdish region, after signing an agreement only with the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan, without going through Iraq's central government, and added that according to plans, the volume may rise up to one or two hundred tankers per day. A more stable and organized energy alliance between Turkey and Kurdish region of Iraq could create stronger bonds between them. Of course, Baghdad strongly opposes to these plans, even at the current limited scale, since the Iraqi government considers the oil exports without official state permission, illegal and illegitimate. What Baghdad says is that oil is property of all Iraqi people and no export should take place without being organised and agreed by the central government, and warns Turkey that this action could seriously damage their trade relations. However, the reactions of Iraqi state towards both Ankara and the autonomous region, may lead to a tightening of the relations between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, since their energy bonds, combined with the aforementioned reasons for the two leaderships to come closer, could consist a platform for a future stable alliance. Of course, what should always be kept in mind is the wider and longitudinal situation between Kurds and the Turkish state.