In the past Turkey has faced loud opposition from Iraq to its military offensives in the country, but that no longer seems to be the case. President Erdogan now reports Iraq is supporting the latest offensive, announced over the weekend. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry insists this is untrue.
The offensive is after the PKK, a banned Turkish-Kurdish group, which may be changing things from Iraq’s perspective, as opposed to a push against an Iraqi group on Iraqi soil
The even bigger surprise came from Kurdish MP Balanbo Mohammad Ali, who reported that Kurdish Peshmerga paramilitary fighters have been sent to support the Turkish troops against the PKK. Ali, a member of the PUK, said this was done at the behest of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).
The Peshmerga, however, quickly denied that this was the case, saying that they want Iraqi Kurdish territory to be respected. Iraqi central government officials dismissed the offensive as unilateral Turkish aggression.
Though the Iraqi Kurdish regional government has not historically had the best of relations with the PKK, it is very unusual to see them lined up against fellow Kurds, more so when they’re backing the Erdogan government, which has a reputation for being quite harsh against Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
No need to reac article. Of course they are! They have allied with Turkey from the time US brought into Iraq Turkey’s PKK fighters. In a battle for Sinjar, where US used Kurdish forces — in the end US allowed only PKK iffshoot to enter the town.
This is the same pattern as in Syria. YPG were PKK offshoot. SDF are American mercenaries. In Iraq, to undermine Peshmerga — US organized a local PKK outfit. Peshmerga assists Turkey in chasing them down.
The ultimate target is the Kurds in Iran.