Turkey enters northern Iraq

I call it unusual because no country’s foreign minister has ever moved around in different cities of a foreign country as comfortably as he does in the cities of his homeland. During his visit to Iraq, which was characterized with a warmth that went beyond diplomatic convention, Davutoğlu and the accompanying Turkish delegation were welcomed with great empathy not only in Basra, a predominantly Shiite city in the southernmost part of Iraq, but also in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in the northernmost part of the country, as well as in the multi-ethnic city of Mosul, which was hit hardest by chaos and violence during the occupation of Iraq. The fact that Davutoğlu was accompanied by Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan and about 80 Turkish businessmen was proof that the visit had not only political and diplomatic but also commercial targets.

We can safely assert that, thanks to this visit, Davutoğlu has included Iraq, or more correctly, northern Iraq, in his Middle East vision for creating a regional basin of peace. Massoud Barzani, the head of the KRG, has expressed support for this vision, which is likely to create radical changes in the course of bilateral relations between Turkey and northern Iraq. The regional administration in Arbil can be expected to undertake a much more constructive role in terms of eliminating Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorism, the most fundamental problem defeating a peaceful and holistic vision of the Middle East. The Barzani administration, which lent support to Turkey’s democratic initiative, one that is progressing irreversibly, it seems, will continue to extend this support so long as the Turkish government perseveres in this process.

Northern Iraq’s support for this democratic settlement process will marginalize the PKK and render it ineffective because almost all of the 332-kilometer-long common border between Turkey and Iraq is actually a border between Turkey and the Kurdish administration. The security of this border is maintained not by Iraqi soldiers, but by the Kurdish peshmerga. Given the fact that Turkey’s connection to the rest of Iraq is maintained through this region, it is unthinkable for Turkey to continue to ignore the regional administration in northern Iraq. Observing that Barzani and his administration were extremely happy with this major move to remove this anomaly is proof that there is a process of fundamental change in how we see the region and vice versa.

I do not exaggerate in calling it an anomaly. Between 1991 and 2003, Turkey had very good relations with Kurds, while it had virtually no ties with other groups (except the Turkmens) in Iraq, but after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Ankara quickly severed its relations with the Kurds in northern Iraq and developed its ties with other ethnic and religious groups and opted to maintain a tense distance with the Kurds. But this distance was contrary to the nature of business and to realpolitik. What could be more natural than normalizing relations with northern Iraq, where almost all of the cities which are quickly gaining a modern appearance are being built by Turkish companies, and where more than 500 Turkish companies operate, and where there are numerous Turkish schools, including one university? Even the fact that Turkey’s trade with Iraq, amounting to $7 billion, is exclusively made through northern Iraq was sufficient proof that the policy of ignoring the KRG is an unsustainable one. It is good to see that this inevitability has been realized, albeit late, and that necessary steps are being undertaken to rectify it.

Overjoyed not only by the arrival of Turkish ministers, but also with the landing of a Turkish Airlines (THY) aircraft at the Arbil airport, Kurds of northern Iraq did not hide their enthusiasm and expressed their sincerity with a simple sentence: “First minister, first plane.” Defying security considerations, Minister Davutoğlu entered the ancient Kayseri bazaar in Arbil, which underlines the fact that Turks are a natural part of this land. It should be noted that a local friend of ours said even Barzani cannot move around in this bazaar as easily as Davutoğlu.