Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Mohammed Hussein from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) convened with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in the southern province of Antalya on Thursday.
The gathering of these two ministers occurred ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s impending visit to both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The meeting coincided with the assassination of a political refugee from Turkey in Sulaymaniyah.
This diplomatic rendezvous is situated within the context of a series of recent engagements between Turkey and both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Analysts interpret Turkey’s intensified diplomatic activities as a precursor to heightened cross-border endeavours against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Notably, Turkey’s military operations against the PKK in northern Iraq have incurred substantial losses, coinciding with escalated Turkish assaults on Kurdish territories across Iraq and Syria. Moreover, the recent elections in Kirkuk have sparked allegations of Turkish interference in the region’s political affairs.
Previously, Fidan embarked on a three-day visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in August 2023. Notably, Minister Fidan, alongside Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, reiterated Ankara’s commitment to fortifying ties with Erbil (Hewlêr).
In early February, Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and Chief of General Staff General Metin Gürak visited Erbil for various talks. Subsequent to Güler’s visit, the deployment of Iraqi border guards near the Turkish border in the Amadiya district of Duhok province indicated efforts to establish military installations in this strategically significant area. Allegedly, the KDP is leveraging Iraqi border guards to exert military pressure on PKK-held territories, purportedly in response to Turkish requests for support in their invasion strategies.
While accusations persist regarding the KDP’s collaboration with Turkey in military offensives against Kurdish areas in Iraq, many within Iraqi Kurdistan believe that the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation have orchestrated the assassinations of Kurdish political activists in the region since 2021.
The targeting of yet another Kurdish political refugee from Turkey on the day of the foreign ministers’ meeting raises further inquiries.
Amid these diplomatic exchanges, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), during his visit to Turkey for the 3rd Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Friday.
The meeting between the two counterparts took place against a backdrop of heightened tensions, mirroring Turkey’s broader diplomatic and military manoeuvres in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region which have been viewed by Zeyneb Murad, co-chair of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), as potential groundwork for an extensive military operation.
Meanwhile, the official statement from the presidential communication office regarding Nechirvan Barzani’s visit notably omitted the term “Kurdistan”, opting instead for a fabricated designation: “Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government”.
This deliberate choice, deviating from the entity’s official name, the Kurdistan Regional Government, was interpreted as an effort to sidestep the acknowledgment of “Kurdistan”, which covers regions within Turkish borders, along with parts of Iran and Syria.
