In a turbulent Arab and regional environment, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani arrived on the ninth of December of this month to the Turkish Republic and he has conducted talks with senior Turkish leadership on regional developments in the Middle East. And this visit was received with a diplomatic standing ovation by Turkish leaders who met the President of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, especially by the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu. For the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic the flag of Iraqi Kurdistan is raised along with flag of the Republic of Iraq, in the Office of President of the Republic, and the Office of the Prime Minister during his visit for each of them.
The visit of President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani to Turkey comes after the chill in bilateral relations for a few months, due to the expansion of state regulation in Iraq and the Levant “Daash” after its control in June 2014 over the city of Mosul and Nineveh province and territory belonging to the Kurdistan region of Iraq and threatening the capital, Erbil and failure of Turkey to provide armed support to the region . The Kurdish leadership considered it as a sort of disappointment of an ally of the Kurdistan region state. But the Turkish government remedied it later when providing military aid for the region , then allowed the passage of troops, “peshmerga” across its territory to reach the city of Ain Arab, northern Syria, to prevent the fall of the region to the hands of Daash, which led to the demise of the apathy and the return of the warmth of the relationship.
The visit of Barzani is carrying in that time many connotations; it has come after days of a successful round of the head of Kurdistan region – Iraq to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and during the acute political crisis between Turkey and Russia on the background of shooting down Russian fighter ’’Su-24” by Turkey in November 24th of last month, and accusations of Russia for the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to buy oil from Daash, and the signs of Iranian-Turkish crisis, and this is the first time that the Turkish officials criticized the Iranian regime in what is called by the President of the Turkish Republic “a sectarian policy” and it comes at a time that the Iraqi-Turkish relations witness a state of tension when Turkey has sent some 150 soldiers to station near the Iraqi city of Mosul, “Ba’shiqah”, by land , to replace a military unit in the region, and it has also been bringing in between 20 and 25 tanks, through the process of replacement which met with a protest by the Iraqi leadership. The visit also came after the direct Russian military intervention in the Syrian crisis on the last September 30th , and the control of Iran on the entire Iraqi political scene and some parts of the political scene in Lebanon and Yemen. In this context, we wonder about the nature of the relationship linked between Turkey and the President of Kurdistan region of Iraq, Is it just an economic relationship or it includes a variety of dimensions based on strategic foundations or is it based on a temporary foundations ?
Arab political and journalistic analyzes , linked to the Iranian regime , tried to reduce the importance of the visit of the President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani, and limited it only in the economic framework. The argument for this is that Turkey is trying through the Kurdistan region of Iraq to find a new provider of energy after its strained relations with Russia recently, but the reality of relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan region and its status in Turkish foreign policy since the end of 2007 and to this day, refutes these analyzes, and emphasizes that relations between them with multiple dimensions is not limited only to that side.
The visit of the President of the Kurdistan region to Turkey in the current regional circumstances of intense polarization is only an important message to the Russian Iranian, Iraq, Syrian axis that the the Iraqi Kurdish regional president is an ally of Turkey in the political and security files. New regional developments necessitate on the Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish side to emphasize this alliance. Kurdish government is in need of regional protection after growing role of Iran in Iraq, and the penetration of Shiite militias, which operate according to the agenda of intellectual seriously threatens the future of the whole of the Kurdistan region. In contrast, the Justice and Development government in Turkey realizes that the increase of Iranian influence in Iraq after 2003, negatively reflected on the regional balance of power, and as a result of that influence , Iraq is turned to be a back garden of it, which is of course negatively affected Turkish interests at this time and may affect Turkey in the future if the influence continues.
Turkey is considered for the Kurdistan region of Iraq the gate to get to the Western world in Europe and the United States of America, and recording ambitious rates of growth to achieve the best economic situation, and to stand by the region in the face of security challenges and perhaps threats of the organization of the State currently. In reciprocal, Turkey is in need of the region on the economic side regardless its vision on the security and political side of the region . The region is the fifth source to provide Turkey with the needed energy sources of oil and natural gas. Doing so will reduce Turkey’s dependence on Russia and Iran, and to get rid of political exploitation of energy resources from Russia and Iran. This will enable Turkey and its allies from the Arab countries to face the current challenge noting that the tripartite alliance, which brings together Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar in the face of Russian-Iranian, Syrian Iraqi alliance, is known, but the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan clearly called into a regional alliance combines other Sunni states. In this regional context, it highlights the importance of Iraq’s Kurdistan region in this alliance, The region although is not an independent state, but standing by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar undoubtedly will strengthen the position of the alliance of the region’s issues. To the point that the region enjoys good relations with the Sunni component in Iraq, as well as linked with a distinct political relations with both the United States and the European Union, which qualifies it to be active in the new regional interactions and participate in drawing of future policy in the Middle East environment .
The Turkish foreign policy in the era of the Justice and Development government towards the Kurdistan region of Iraq based on long-term strategy, not the result of coincidence or an interim tactic to go to an end by the end of factors that led to its emergence, so the open foreign policy adopted by the Justice and Development government towards the regional neighboring countries in the Middle East are deactivated by repercussions of Arab Spring, particularly the Syrian Revolution, so the continuation of an open policy toward the region is a Turkish attempt to prove the success of its foreign policy based on cooperation with the Kurdish region, which is expressed by the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu when he said that Ankara has never said that it aims to end all the problems and conflicts in accordance with the adoption of a policy to minimize these problems, but Ankara is trying to reduce these problems and increase regional cooperation with Turkey’s neighboring countries, which depends on the other parties, it is difficult to burden Turkey the responsibility of the failure of Arab regimes to maintain internal security and respect its citizens rights .
Therefore, the Turkish foreign policy towards the Kurdistan region of Iraq is seen in the strengthening of bilateral gains, and this requires Turkey to provide it with protection and the preservation of security in the next stage, and perhaps the training of the Peshmerga forces by Turkey to confront the organization of the State in Iraq and the Levant “Daash”; shows The presence of Turkish determination to continue to cooperate and coordinate with the Kurdish party , and the recent visit of the President of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Massoud Barzani to Turkey comes as part of those attempts, and that the official reception and use of the flag of the Kurdistan region reflects the advanced stage of a radical change in Turkish foreign policy from the policy based on hesitation and interim military solutions with the Kurds to a clear policy aims to ensure friendship with Kurds, and to cooperate with them to achieve common interests whereas a solid policy and plans of the Turkish military establishment failed to achieve it for more than two decades .
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies