Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq, Murat Özçelik, will head a delegation that will meet with Barzani, according to Turkish diplomatic sources. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief foreign policy advisor, Ahmet Davutoğlu, is also expected to be in the delegation.
Bahrouz Ghalali, representative to Ankara of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the political party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said the talks are due to take place today. Turkish sources, on the other hand, only said a delegation headed by Özçelik would soon visit Baghdad, declining to provide further details ostensibly for security reasons.
Ankara has been reluctant to talk to the Iraqi Kurds, accusing them of tolerating and even supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which launches attacks on Turkey from its bases in Kurdish-run northern Iraq. That policy changed when Özçelik and Davutoğlu met with Nechirvan Barzani, Massoud Barzani’s nephew and prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, in Baghdad in May.
Massoud Barzani and the Turkish officials are expected to discuss cooperation against the PKK, whose presence in mountainous northern Iraq is a source of friction in relations with the Iraqi Kurdish administration. Ankara is pleased that there has been a change in the rhetoric on the part of Iraqi Kurds since May, but officials admit the Kurds have much to do to meet Turkey’s requests for a joint effort against the PKK. Ankara demands the arrest of PKK leaders, cutting all logistical support for the group and designation of the PKK as a terrorist group in line with Turkish, US and European policy. The Turkish delegation is anticipated to reiterate Turkey’s expectations.
Officials told Today’s Zaman that planned talks with the Iraqi Kurds will be a test for the fate of the newly launched dialogue process with the Kurdish administration. The level and intensity of dialogue is expected to grow if Barzani gives enough assurances that it is on Turkey’s side in the fight against the PKK.
President Abdullah Gül is expected to visit Baghdad soon, and reports in the Turkish media said he has been invited to visit Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, during his visit. But the presidency denied the report yesterday, saying no date was set for the visit and that there was no invitation for Gül to visit Arbil.
Although analysts agree that lack of dialogue with Massoud Barzani has done little to secure help from the northern Iraqi administration against the PKK, some highlight concerns that the Kurdish leader could put the government in a difficult position if he repeats his past statements, warning of fighting back against Turkish troops if they attack northern Iraq or refusing to call the PKK a terrorist group. Barzani is a nationalistic leader and it is not easy to predict how he would react to provocative questions on relations with Turkey, say observers. The last time Turkish officials had talks with the Kurdish leader was in 2005 when then undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) met him secretly in northern Iraq. This clandestine meeting was later confirmed by Turkish officials.
Earlier this month, the PKK attacked a military outpost near the border with Iraq, killing 17 soldiers. The attack intensified opposition parties' calls for cross-border attacks on the PKK in northern Iraq, and Parliament subsequently passed a motion to extend the military's mandate to carry out cross-border operations in northern Iraq for another year.
The military announced that Turkish warplanes attacked a group of PKK members, including senior leaders, in the Zap region of northern Iraq on Sunday. The warplanes "hit the mark," and all planes returned to their bases safely, according to the military's statement, released late on Sunday. It provided few details and contained no information about PKK casualties. The air strike was the seventh since the Oct. 3 attack on the border military outpost.
Nechirvan Barzani complained last week that the PKK attacks were aimed at hurting ties between Turkey and the Kurdish administration and called for dialogue so that the Kurdish authorities know how they can help. "The Turks don't sit at the same table with us. How are we supposed to know how we can help?" he said last week.
Sources said the Kurdish side wanted that the talks be held in Arbil, but Ankara insisted that the venue should be Baghdad, signaling Ankara's commitment to support the territorial integrity of Iraq. Sources also underlined that the talks with Massound Barzani did not mean Ankara was officially recognizing the regional Kurdish administration as the "Regional Government of Kurdistan." Barzani recently met with Talabani in Baghdad, discussing ties with Turkey and other issues with the Iraqi president, an ethnic Kurd.
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