On 25th of this month, the Turkish air force carried out air strikes on the PKK military targets in the mountains of Sinjar in Iraq and northeastern Syria.
It was surprising for many regional and global parties that dozens of Turkish warplanes to launch simultaneous air raids on the sites of the organization of the PKK in the Iraqi Sinjar and others on the sites of the « Kurdish protection Units» (which is one of the many names that make up the front part led actually by (PKK) in north-east of Syria.
After the bombing, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would not allow the transformation of the Sinjar region of northern Iraq into a base for the fighters of the PKK and military operations would continue there and in northern Syria « till to eliminate the last terrorist».
Erdogan said in an interview at the presidential palace in Ankara, «We are committed to take action, we should take steps and we have notified the United States and Russia and Iraq also». He added «It is an operation on which we informed the (President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region Massoud) Barzani».
This notification did not prevent the States concerned to express their rejection of these strikes, the Iraqi government condemned the Turkish air strikes where a spokesman for Prime Minister Office Saad al-Hadithi o said the Turkish shelling of Sinjar, stressing that it is a «flagrant violation» of Iraqi sovereignty, as he put it.
The «Peshmerga» Kurdish forces on its part considered the bombing of Turkish fighters to their positions in northern Iraq is «unacceptable», and found that the cause of the problems is the «presence» of PKK, which has refused to withdraw from the Sinjar mountain, although all parties asking it to leave.
Also the US State Department announced on that date that the United States «deeply concerned» about the Turkish air strikes against Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria.
And the spokesman Mark Toner said «We are deeply concerned about air strikes launched by Turkey in northern Syria and northern Iraq without proper coordination with either the United States or the broader international coalition to defeat Daesh». He added «We have expressed this concern to the Turkish government directly».
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the targeting of the Turkish armed forces to the strongholds of PKK in Iraq’s Sinjar region, and the headquarters of the General Command of the Kurdish protection Units in Mount of Qrjouk (Krachuk) near the Syrian Dirk city.
The Foreign ministry expressed in a statement posted on its official website, on current April 26, its rejection of the bombing carried out by Turkish fighter jets.
And a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Bahram Ghasemi said, the bombing of the Turkish armed forces to the PKK strongholds “in the Iraqi Sinjar city is a” violation of the sovereignty of Iraqi territory “.
And Ghasemi said that the bombing of the Turkish fighters of the Iraqi city of Sinjar is contrary to international law.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman added that the bombing of the Turkish fighters contributes to increasing instability, and its continuity in the Mountqh. Ghasemi made a note that the Iranian government supports and stands by the Iraqi government in the process of violating the sovereignty of its territory.
And the foreign ministry added that the bombing increases the tension in the region, and do not serve the joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The question that arises in this context, why did Turkish fighter jets bomb the area of Sinjar in Nineveh province?
This bombing is based on those developments in Nineveh province in northern Iraq and its direct vital repercussions on the Turkish state noting that the PKK is no longer based only in northern Iraq’s Qandil Mountains, but also in the Sinjar area which is located in the western province of Nineveh. Sinjar from the geographical point is closest to the Turkish border from the rugged Qandil Mountains. It also has military importance to Turkey.
According to private information obtained by Rawabet Research and Strategic Studies Center that these strikes are not the first of Turkish air force in the shelling of PKK strongholds in Sinjar, this is almost daily bombardment against them by Turkish fighters “IF16” and “IF15″ in addition to the drone aircraft. The memory brings us back to the Turkish shelling, which began in the Qandil Mountains, the fort safe of PKK since 20 years ago in the era of the former Iraqi regime.
The party has spread to 64 villages and among these villages is the village of “Sankser.” One result of the bombing is the falling of many of the fighters of the party cadres, in addition to civilians and heavy losses in the agricultural sector, which represents the Kurdish economy artery in the Qandil Mountains.
The bombing came to confirm the advance awareness of the Iraqi Kurdish leadership in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that the PKK has become significant force in the region through its headquarters scattered in some Kurdish areas in addition to recruiting the people of the region to fight to his side, posing a threat to the region, this matter summoned the leadership to ask the party to leave the territory, but was consistently refused to meet that demand.
According to information obtained by Rawbet Center for Research and Strategic Studies that the last meeting between Haider Abadi, the Iraqi Prime Minister and Massoud Barzani president of Kurdistan region of Iraq, they have agreed to form two battalions in Sinjar, one of them belongs to the federal government and the other is belonging to the forces of the Kurdish Peshmerga, and the Kurdish regiment is equipped by the government Federal, but due to the preoccupation of the Iraqi government with battles of cleansing Iraq from the organization Daesh in Mosul, and the worsening financial crisis, it has not implemented what was agreed upon by the Prime Minister and the President of the Kurdistan region.
The PKK party has not been able to become in that force in the Kurdistan region of Iraq without Iranian support.
According to private information obtained by Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies , there has been close cooperation between Iran and the upper branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, so according to orders from Iran , the Previous Iraqi governments provided financial and military support in addition to financial allocations for some of its elements in the exchange that to stop all military actions of the party PJAK “Party of Free life of Kurdistan , branch of Kurdistan workers’ Party in Iran. This is what really has been done, and the proof is that PJAK party has not carried out any military action against Pasdaran guards, “the Iranian Revolutionary Guards” in the past two years.
Because the variable is constant in the policies of states According to private information obtained by the Rawabet center, in one of the meetings of the presidency in Baghdad , it was discussed the financial and military support to the PKK provided by previous governments and those presidencies agreed to stop that support, and in this context , and according to information of Rawabet Center that in the recent visit by Qassem Soleimani to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, he had informed the leadership of the two main parties in the Kurdistan region that the PKK is a major threat to the region, and that Iran will not run the risk of its relations with Turkey for it .
There is no doubt that the message of Soleimani means the complete abandonment of the PKK and this attitude of Iran could lead to a response to re activity of PJAK party inside Iran and the question that arises in this context is that the party has the ability in the face of two regional countries ,Turkey and Iran? Will this confrontation will be the beginning of the end to it?
In conclusion, the targeting of Turkish fighter jets to Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the “Sinjar” in northern Iraq has brought back the issue of the party and the war waged by Ankara against it to the forefront again, the question that arises in this context: Is Sinjar the Turkish “shield of Tigris” in Iraq?
The Iraqi Studies Unit
Translated by : Mudhaffar al-Kusairi
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies