Although it seems that Iran is the winner in reaching out to a whole new range of locations from Iraq to Yemen, this is also problematic as Iran’s expansion attracts Saudi and Israeli reactions – who target Iran’s proxies, or sometimes Iranian troops directly.
The country not only targeted multiple wedding parties with lots of civilian casualties from Afghanistan to Iraq and Yemen in its “surgical” strikes, but also erected torture centers from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib.
A second big hit was the killing of Ismail Ozden (codename Mam Zeki Sengali), another senior PKK figure, who was in charge of PKK militants in Sincar, Iraq.
administration has imposed sanctions against Turkish ministers and Turkey, has (and continues to) arm the PYD/YPG, which is known as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK - an armed terrorist organization that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Turkish citizens since 1984 and which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States in the fight against Daesh in Syria and Iraq - and more, the U.
They believe that the monster that would appear in Babylon has already appeared in Iraq and Iran; and Iran, North Korea and China comprise the “three evil spirits” they believe to come off from the mouth of a dragon.
However, along with the 2003 Iraq invasion, the fluctuations experienced in relations have taken deeper structural forms as opposed to short-term interest discrepancies.
Moreover, the PKK and Daesh were increasing their pressure on the region, terrorist threats were emerging from Syria and Iraq and cross-border operations were taking place during this period.
The referendum has become a turning point as the governments of Turkey, Iran and Iraq –all in favor of Iraq’s territorial integrity- cooperated to halt the one-sided independence move of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
For instance, it’s even ironical that the HDP’s presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, was publicly supported by his brother Nurettin Demirtas, who lives as a PKK-terrorist in Iraq’s Qandil mountains.