I have been trying to follow this for a while, I somewhat understand the nature of Türkiye's relation with Syria and various local autonomous fractions there. But couldn't
comprehend how is it with Iraq, and various regional actors there.
@Sanchez @Kartal1 could any of you explain it briefly? I would much appreciate that.
In a simple terms I may explain it in the following way.
If we can start with the Kurds we can say that there are two major political parties in KRG.
The one is KDP (Barzani) and the other is PUK (Talabani). The Barzanis (Erbil) are in close cooperation with us. Their existence is tied to Turkiye so we are cooperating because of the mutual interests we got and the big pressure we can exert at them due to the strategic importance of Turkiye both for KDP and the KRG as a whole. They are cooperating with us against PKK.
The other ones are the PUK (Talabani). Talabanis (Suleymaniye) are a very big opponents for the political power in KRG to the Barzanis (KDP). They are close with every actor (both Iran and the US) when it comes to their interests. They have history of cooperation with PKK and currently Suleymaniye city is turned into a big PKK urban base for operations. We are opposing their malign influence and cooperation with the PKK and soon we may even take harsher measures against PUK (Talabani) officials.
The other ones are the Turkmen. The Turkmen are fighting for their rights under Kurdish government. Due to the negligence and lameness of the Turkish intelligence in the past the Turkmen had to turn to Iran for help in order to survive the DEASH threat, because they are Shia. The most of Turkmen armed elements are incorporated into the Hashdi Shaabi (Iran supported PMU). Their whole political structure is already infiltrated by Iranian agents and we lost the trust between us. No matter what happens, Turkiye and the Turkmen are still cooperating in many fields, especially when it comes to cultural exchange (their language is almost the same as Turkish) and there is still very big Turkish influence within them. Basically Iran and Turkiye are fighting for influence within the Turkmen, but in a practical way Iran is one step ahead of us. The moves Turkiye publicly announces towards the Turkmen are mainly for internal consumption (The Turks are sensitive regarding the issue with the Iraqi Turkmen) while it basically tries to dictate the Turkmen, influence their internal processes in favor of Turkiye, aiming at eliminating Iranian influence. The initiative is not working good so far.
The Central Government of Iraq as we know is acting as an Iranian proxy when it comes to the relationship between Turkiye and Iraq. They are protesting our military operations in Iraq, want us to leave Iraqi lands and cooperate with PKK in areas like Sinjar (border region between Iraq and Syria carrying critical importance). PKK's proxy in Sinjar is called YBS. The situation developed in such a way that YBS were incorporated in the Iranian supported PMU and their salaries are coming from the Iraqi Central Government.
The other factor is PKK. The PKK is basically torn in two parts. The one are the traditionalists and the other are the reformists. The main PKK branch which is in Iraq is led by the traditionalists. The traditionalists historically have relationship with Iran. They are the more violent part of PKK which is giving priority to the old-school armed struggle. While the traditionalists are the majority in Iraq, their domination in Syria is limited to the west of the Euphrates river where Russia and Iran are keeping them under control. Their main branch is called HRE (in distinction to the PYD/YPG). The reformists are the majority of PKK in Syria (PYD-YPG) and are dominating basically everywhere there is US domination. The reformists are under the leadership of Mazlum Kobani (ex-Iraqi branch PKK). While there are mainly two visions in the PKK as we said, the main branch and the strongest stable branch is the one in Iraq. The main decision making capability of PKK is in Iraq. PKK is an organization that pushes all the buttons which are profitable. They can be communist, conservative, Kurdish nationalist and also can be LGBT, feminist, liberal etc. Iraqi branch is mainly pushing the button responsible for the armed struggle while the Syrian reformist branch under US leadership is pushing mainly the political struggle button. While both the US and Iran are thinking of their interests the PKK is looking for a way to survive and this is the reason why they cooperate with everybody and work towards the same goal, but in two different ways.
In this sense Talabani (PUK) is the same. He cooperate with the US, Iran, PKK (both in Iraq and Syria) in order to ensure his survival and fight for strength against the main political power in the KRG which are the Barzani (KDP).
So basically the situation is like this:
Turkiye, Barzani (wildcard) vs PKK, Talabani, Iran | Turkmen: lack of trust (hate all Kurds) | The US: mostly neutral towards Turkiye, very deep relation with KDP, developing relations with PUK within an initiative to legitimize the reformist branch of PKK (PYD-YPG) in Syria by tying them to PUK in Iraq, fights for domination within PUK against Iranian influence, fighting against Iranian influence of the traditional branch of PKK, trying to separate the branches and create a new clean image for the Kurdish separatism in Syria, sometimes supplies PKK in Iraq with intelligence if PKK leaders under US protection are endangered |
I tried to simplify it, but I am not sure if I succeed. Words are not my power for sure...
