Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday with an incursion. The threat came days after militants for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked Turkish troops within Turkey’s borders, kiling 17.Most PKK militants stage attacks in Turkey after which they quickly cross the border with Iraq where they hide. Northern Iraq is home to many Kurds, and the PKK has established several major training camps for future militants.
The PKK is deemed a terrorist organization by, among others, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Iraq’s central government had promised several times in the last couple of years to do something about the PKK presence in the northern part of the country, but has yet to take significant action.
“The sole target of a possible cross-border operation will be the terrorist organisation,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling party the AK Parti (or Justice and Development Party).
“Turkey is in a position of self-defence when it comes to terrorism. Everyone should understand this,” he said. “The best choice for the regional administration of northern Iraq is to cooperate with us against terrorist elements because the terrorist organisation is a cause of regional unrest and tension.”
Iraq and Turkey have been at odds with each other for years over this issue. Turkey believes that Baghdad is not doing enough against the PKK, forcing Turkey to do take matter into its own hands, while Baghdad says there is not much it can do because the PKK hides in regions difficult to enter for government forces, and argues that cross border operations by Turkey are unacceptable, because Turkey would not be allowed to act in breach with Iraq’s territorial integrity.
The United States, meanwhile, is caught in the middle because it has fought a war against terrorism for quite some years itself, and has invaded two countries in order to destroy terrorist organizations (both Afghanistan and arguably Iraq). This means that it is difficult if not impossible for the U.S. to criticize Turkey when it goes into Iraq, occupies a significant part of its ‘Kurdistan’ part, and withdraws weeks, perhaps months, later.
On the other hand, Iraq’s government is not willing to let Turkey deal with problems too big for itself to handle, and calls on Turkey to withdraw immediately whenever it takes military action against PKK target in Iraq. The U.S. has to, of course, stand with Iraq, also because more than 100,000 of its troops are stationed in this country. Furthermore, the U.S. fears that a Turkish incursion will destabilize one of the historically most stable parts of Iraq.