Anger in Ankara over Iraqi Kurdish independence moves
Given its close ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government, which it needs for economic, political and security interests, Turkey’s objections to Iraqi Kurdish plans remain low key, but a crisis between the sides may nevertheless be looming.
Attempts by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq to expand its territory, while inching its way toward independence, may augur more difficulties for Turkey in a region where it already faces multiple problems.
Amicable ties with the KRG — one of the few friends Turkey has left in the region — remain important for Ankara and ensure measured Turkish responses to such moves by Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Given the antipathy Turkish nationalists have for all things Kurdish, however, the situation could spin out of control with unexpected developments on the ground, leaving Ankara with yet another hostile neighbor on its borders.
The first signs of potential crisis between Ankara and Erbil came when the Kurdish-dominated provincial council in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk decided, as part of this year’s Nowruz celebrations, to raise the Kurdish flag alongside the Iraqi flag over the city’s historic citadel and other official institutions.
