Skip to main content

Would Turkey accept a Kurdish state?

As the likelihood of an independent Kurdish state on Turkey’s eastern border grows, Ankara is losing its historical resistance to the idea.
A map of the Kurdistan region is seen on the wall of a school where a Christian family who fled from the violence in Mosul two days ago, is staying in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 27, 2014. Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY) - RTR3W0Y0
Read in 

Developments in Iraq have left Turkey facing the prospect of an independent Kurdish state on its eastern border. Such an idea would have been abhorrent for Turkey a mere decade ago for fear that its existence would incite separation among its own restive Kurds. The standard Turkish narrative at the time was that an independent Kurdistan was a Western project aimed at destroying Turkey, an age-old ambition. Even the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was viewed in this context by many. The picture is no longer so black and white.

Today, the tables have turned, and Washington is accusing Ankara of exacerbating divisions in Iraq by developing independent ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over Baghdad’s head, especially in the strategic energy field. Turkey’s official preference is still a unified Iraq and as Cengiz Candar noted, one can deduce from recent remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Secretary of State John Kerry that the positions of the US and Turkish governments converge in this regard.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.