Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seeks legitimacy to “develop his genocidal occupation [and] attacks” against Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, top Kurdish political figure Duran Kalkan has said.
“The only remedy he will resort to is war, aggression, more fascist oppression, and terror. With this, he will try to silence all opposition,” said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) senior executive in an interview shared by the umbrella Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
President Erdoğan, who marks his first visit to Baghdad in 12 years on 22 April, is expected to address the ongoing military operations in the mountainous border areas of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), including in Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna, and further enlargement of new offensives 60km deep from the border near Duhok city and the Gara mountain range, during his discussions.
Turkey occupies a strip of land on the Turkey-Iraq border, up to 40km inside Iraqi territory, and has established over 60 military bases in the area. The Turkish military is also in the process of launching a renewed and large-scale attack against the PKK, particularly in the Gara mountain area. President Erdoğan announced that a “large-scale military operation” will soon commence in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Balkan argued that the Turkish Presidents plans to conduct wide-ranging operations in the PKK-held region known as the ‘Medya Defence Zones’ have been frustrated both by the PKK’s armed resistance and by a poor showing in recent election results in Turkey.
“After already suffering a heavy defeat in war, Erdoğan has also suffered a heavy defeat in this election,” he said. “During the winter, the Kurdish freedom guerrilla struck blow after blow in the region of Zap. Erdoğan was defeated militarily, and now, after suffering a political defeat in the elections, his position has weakened even more,” he said.
As such, the Iraq visit could be understood as a fresh effort to secure support and legitimacy for these operations, Kalkan said, issuing a further warning over the Turkish leader’s upcoming visit to Washington on 9 May:
“The Erdoğan administration is trying to save the situation … is trying to mitigate the defeats, to breathe a little bit, to continue its wars, and to create further deceptions for its forces…
“Erdoğan is going to go to Baghdad and America and wants to prepare his surroundings for the new attacks that he is going to carry out. This seems to be the case.”
Kalkan further argued that supporting Turkey’s military operations was not in the interests of Baghdad or other regional powers. The government in Baghdad announced a ban on the PKK last month, following an earlier visit by a Turkish state delegation.
However, the Iraqi state stopped short of declaring the PKK a terrorist organisation. Addressing Turkey’s efforts to build a regional coalition to assault the PKK, Kalkan said:
“Why would the Iraqi government, the forces of South Kurdistan, and similar forces support a power that has suffered such a political and military defeat? Why would they support an occupier, that is occupying their territory?”
Despite these warnings, Kalkan argued that Turkish authorities would be unlikely to be able to follow through on their threats to eradicate the PKK in the upcoming operations:
“Every summer,… Erdoğan says, ‘This summer, I will bring the PKK to an end’. How many summers have passed? He has been in power for twenty-two years, twenty-two summers have passed. What have you done? Who still believes your word? No one does.”
