MESOPOTAMIA NEWS Expert: Turkey seeks to annex mountains of Kurdistan region to revive  Millî Pact against Kurdish PKK in Iraq

The expert on Turkish affairs, Dr. Muhammad Nur al-Din said that the Turkish strategic goal of the attacks on Medya’s defensive zones is to revive what he calls “the boundaries of the Millî Pact,” which guarantees the annexation of northern Syria and northern Iraq to Turkey. “

NEWS 20 May 2021, Thu – 04:03 2021-05-20T04:03:00 Beirut – Ziad Abu Ghazaleh

On the 23rd of last April, Turkey began a large-scale attack on Medya, using chemical weapons, in return the guerrilla forces are fighting heroic battles against the Turkish occupation forces, and in this context our agency conducted an exclusive interview with the expert in Turkish affairs, Dr. Muhammad Nur al-Din. The dialogue was as follows:

* Dr. Muhammad, Turkey launched a massive attack on the mountains of the Kurdistan region of Iraq in conjunction with the anniversary of its genocides against the Armenians. What does it mean?

The Turkish attacks on northern Iraq go back more than 30 years, and they are repeated from time to time, depending on the security developments in northern Iraq and the relations between the PKK and the Turkish state. Therefore, these new attacks have nothing to do with the Armenian genocides in particular, although the reminder of what a solution to the Armenians in the interest of the Turks, in order to subjugate the Kurdish people financially and psychologically.

* Turkey announced that it intends to establish a base for it in the areas it attacks, similar to what it did in Syria, and everyone knows the processes of displacement and demographic change that it carried out in Syria in preparation for its separation. What are the Turkish goals that it does not announce?

It is no longer secret the Turkish targets in northern Iraq. There is an urgent interim target, which is striking the military force of the PKK, and the opinion of the Turks is that the sources of what it calls “Kurdish terrorism” against it must be dried up before it reaches the Turkish borders, and this lies in the air strikes and ground operations against the party’s bases there, as for the strategic goal, Turkey has not hidden for several years that it wants to revive what it calls the “boundaries of the Millî Pact” that guarantees the annexation of northern Syria and northern Iraq. Therefore, the steps taken by Turkey, as in Syria as well as in northern Iraq, can be considered. Stations on the road to the great, comprehensive and final goal of annexing these areas to Turkey, in order to return to what they were from the borders drawn by the Ottoman Parliament in 1920.

* The central government in Baghdad and the regional government are still silent about these attacks. Does their silence mean that they agree on it?

It can be said that the position of the central government in Baghdad is hesitant and confused. On the one hand, it does not want the external forces presence in the Iraqi territories, such as the PKK, providing an excuse for the Turks to carry out attacks on northern Iraq. At the same time, it cannot enter into local clashes with the PKK, due to the weakness of the government in general, it is not much bothered by the presence of the PKK in that region, because it is a pressure card on Turkey, and between all these factors the problem remains: the PKK remains there, the Turkish state is carrying out attacks almost daily in that region, the central government is trying to stand close to the PKK and the Turkish state. The important thing is that some areas that Turkey considers a “focus” of hostility to it, such as Sinjar, do not go to the “currency difference” as they say, and thus cooperation between Ankara and Baghdad to attack Sinjar, although this possibility is not likely, at least in the short term.

* Why does the international community allow Turkey to continue launching its attacks on the Kurdistan region of Iraq and the Kurds in general in Syria and Turkey as well?

In fact, when we talk about the international community, we mean the United States of America and Europe, but if we add to this Russia and China, we find that the scene is complete, as these powers, criticize Turkey for its violations of human rights inside Turkey. Turning a blind eye to that in northern Iraq, trying to hold the stick from both sides, to keep its relations with Turkey and not to lose the PKK card, even though it stands against the European and Western colonial policy, the West does not want to lose this card at a certain moment against the Turkish state, therefore, we find that the Turkish attacks on northern Iraq do not receive adequate condemnation, nor are the attempts to stop this Turkish escalation against the PKK.

* Before Turkey launched its attacks on the mountains of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, America renewed a bounty for anyone who gave information about 3 PKK leaders, and Biden also made a call with Erdogan. Does not this mean green lighting Turkey to annihilate the Kurds?

The American administration has never been with the Kurdish Cause, as they were among the biggest supporters of the Turkish state to suppress the Kurdish revolution since the early 1980s, and the evidence for this is America’s giving financial rewards to those who give information about some leaders of the PKK, and this It certainly satisfies Ankara’s ego, although the United States knows very well the difficulty – indeed the impossibility – of arresting these leaders.

As for Biden’s call with Erdogan, it is out of necessity, in the end Turkey is an Atlantic state, and Biden cannot stand the position of being completely hostile to Turkey, but nevertheless Biden’s call does not mean America’s approval of the annihilation of the PKK or the continuation of attacks against the Kurds, which at the same time is not meaning that the United States is defending the Kurdish cause, which was the direct reason behind the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.