Key facts
- Turkey has urged Iran to halt attacks on Kurdish groups in the region.
- Ankara fears further Iranian action could push Kurdish groups towards Israel.
- Turkey is concerned about the impact on its peace talks with the PKK.
- A US-Israeli plan for an armed Kurdish insurrection in Iran was reportedly discussed.
- Senior Turkish officials visited Tehran to convey these messages.
Turkey has conveyed a message to Iran urging it to cease attacks on Kurdish groups in the region, expressing concern that further Iranian action could push these groups towards Israel and undermine Turkey's own peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
During a visit to Tehran, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian reportedly thanked Turkey for its role in thwarting an Israeli plan to incite an armed Kurdish insurrection in western Iran. Senior Turkish officials had previously communicated to their US counterparts that this Israeli plan was unrealistic and posed a threat to Turkey's national security.
Ankara's current concern stems from the potential for increased Iranian military pressure on Kurdish groups in Iran and Iraq to inadvertently push them towards aligning with Israel. This development could jeopardize Turkey's ongoing peace process with the PKK, a group present in Iraq. The Turkish government is preparing legislation to allow non-violent former PKK militants to reintegrate into society within six months, a process that requires regional stability.
Sources familiar with the matter indicated that a US-Israeli plan also involved the Peshmerga, the military forces of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, joining an uprising, as Washington reportedly distrusted the capabilities of the PDKI, the Iranian Kurdish group expected to lead the effort. However, Kurdish leaders were reportedly hesitant to trust the US, citing past experiences in Syria.
Mehmet Alaca, a Turkish expert on Iraq, stated that increased Iranian military pressure could push Iranian Kurdish opposition groups like the PDKI, Komala, and PAK closer to the West, particularly Israel. He warned that this could transform Iraqi Kurdistan into a new front in the Iran-Israel rivalry, destabilize the balance between Iraq's KDP and PUK, and provide Tehran with justification for expanding its influence. Iran has been bombarding PDKI camps in northern Iraq since late February.
Alaca also noted that Turkey has been working to mitigate the impact of Iranian influence in northern Iraq by engaging with the PUK. He emphasized that for Turkey, the most critical aspect is its peace process and the new security architecture it aims to establish post-PKK. The extension of the Iran-Israel rivalry into Iraqi Kurdistan and the resurgence of the Kurdish issue in regional power struggles would directly threaten Turkey's long-term security calculations.