In the context of multiple fronts of open war, which came close to the fourth decade between the Turkish state and the PKK seeking to secede. In the context of this war, Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies received specific information provides that the elements of the PKK abducted during the current month, two Turkish intelligence agents “Mit” in the city of Sulaymaniyah under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK party), party elements were able to pass all security checkpoints and the number five and brought these two elements of Turkish intelligence to the Qandil mountains.
The PKK has justified the kidnapping, that the Turkish intelligence agents were planning to assassinate “Jameel Pike”, which is one of the five founders of the PKK and one of the most prominent leaders of the party, one of the members of the leading Committee in the system of the Kurdish community, which includes under its banner the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. For its part, the Turkish government accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party led by Jalal Talabani of complicity with the PKK in the implementation of the kidnapping.
The Turkish government took this position, based on realistic data from its point of view including: that the security services in Sulaymaniyah unleash the movements of the PKK elements in it , and the presence of dozens of headquarters of the party inside the city , as well as the influence enjoyed by the PKK in Sulaymaniyah. For some reason of the kidnapping, a political crisis erupted between the Turkish government and the party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), embodied in the form of Turkish punitive measures against the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party represented the following:
First, the Turkish government to expel the representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Ankara, “Behrouz Klaly” and his family from its territory. It is understood from the expulsion of a political veteran, Kpehrouz Klaly, who has worked to enhance the relations of Party of Kurdistan Patriotic Union with the Turkish government that the Turkish leadership is very angry about the kidnapping, which occurred in an area controlled by the party. Klaly said at a press conference upon his arrival in Sulaymaniyah, earlier that he had spent 17 years as the representative of his party in Turkey, where he worked to strengthen relations between them and his party. He pointed out that the Turkish government has recently summoned him and told him that it is not satisfied with the existence of political differences with Sulaimaniya and asked him to close the representative office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in a period not exceeding three days, and that he has to leave its territories with his family .
Second, the Turkish government issued a decision which prevents any person who holds an Iraqi passport, even if he had the “entry visa” to come to Turkey via Sulaymaniyah airport, with no inclusion of other Iraqi cities with that resolution.
Turkey does not consider the abduction as a process that can be accepted or tolerated, but may be driven by developments on them to resort to the military option to address it for that it has proceeded to coordinate with the Iranian government and informed them that it moved tanks and heavy military equipment to Iraqi Kurdistan’s borders.
In the midst of this crisis, the official spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, “Bahram Ghasemi,” said the Turkish president, “Recep Tayyip Erdogan” will visit Iran soon, and will be announced on the date and program of the visit in the near future. “The issue of the abduction of Turkish intelligence elements by the top of the PKK, will be on the forefront of the agenda of the Turkish president with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rowhani, to find a way to resolve them.
There is no doubt that the operation of the kidnapping of Turkish intelligence elements in the province of Sulaymaniyah under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, made it in a very embarrassing position with the Turkish government. According to information obtained by the Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in order to contain the crisis, has conducted – and is still- conducting tough negotiations with the PKK for the release of Turkish intelligence elements, and these negotiations did not produce anything new until now, will the Union party succeed in solving it? We and followers of it are waiting the surprise.
The Iraqi Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies