When it comes to opinion forming among the many pro-Erdogan daily newspapers in Turkey, Yeni Safak is the leader. Its editor-in-chief, Ibrahim Karagul, is known for incendiary columns, especially on foreign policy issues.

Western diplomats in Ankara are perplexed when they read Karagul's columns, wondering if they might represent the official Turkish position on sensitive foreign policy issues. Their curiosity is understandable, as he is seen quite often seated next to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey's "Air Force One" during foreign trips.

A week ago, the ambassador of an influential European country in Ankara disclosed to me that "highest officials" in the Turkish capital told him that they do not share Karagul's incendiary columns on foreign policy issues. However, only within a week after this "revelation," what he wrote and what Erdogan and the government spokesman, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, said on Mosul were identical.

In his Oct. 19 column, titled "Mosul: Then let's also put our own map on the table," Karagul wrote, "The Mosul issue is one of Turkey's most essential causes. … Mosul can never be submitted to a will other than the people of Mosul. Mosul cannot go under the control of a country foreign to the region. Mosul cannot be the target of an ethnic and sectarian separation. Mosul cannot be sacrificed for the US and UK's oil games. Mosul cannot be left subject to Iran's Shiite identity-adjusted disposal. Mosul cannot be left to the mercy of Baghdad, which is acting completely along the Iran and Shiism axis."