Can joint Turkey-Iran action against PKK be real?
Turkey’s wish for a joint operation with Iran against the outlawed Kurdish militants along the Turkish-Iranian border is back on the agenda once again, but how realistic is it? Experts believe it is not.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — In the run-up to elections, Turkish government officials tend to claim that Turkey and Iran will conduct a joint operation against outlawed Kurdish militants along the border.
When Turkey was preparing for the general elections in June 24, 2018, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had announced that Turkey and Iran were planning to launch joint operations on the Qandil Mountains, where the headquarters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is located. But these plans have not been realized. Turkey along with most Western powers consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Turkey is preparing to hold local elections on March 31, and Soylu voiced similar plans. “God willing, we will conduct an anti-PKK operation with Iran. A joint operation had long been a wish of the Turkish state,” Soylu told Turkey’s state-owned news agency Anadolu on March 6.
Iran, on the other hand, has always been very cautious in its comments about these plans, which are frequently dismissed by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
