| Let us wish them both much joy from it. |
[JPost] It appears that Iran, having helped the Iraqi government grab Sinjar from the Kurdistan region, doesn’t want Turkey entering Sinjar now.While the region’s eyes are on recent tensions with Iran in the Gulf of Oman and Syria, a simmering dispute between Iran and Turkey in Iraq appears to be growing. The dispute has origins going back years as Iran has sought greater influence in Iraq, and Turkey has long viewed northern Iraq as its area of influence.
The recent tensions have grown after Turkey threatened an invasion of Iraq’s Sinjar region. This region was home to the Yazidi minority prior to 2014. ISIS attacked Sinjar in 2014 and committed genocide and around 500,000 Yazidis were forced to flee. After Sinjar was liberated by Kurdish forces, a tense time resulted as various Kurdish factions sought control.
What matters is that in 2017, the Iraqi government supported pro-Iranian militias, called Hashd al-Shaabi, to retake Sinjar from the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. Disputes in Sinjar over whether the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) might remain led to Turkish threats the Sinjar is harboring "terrorists." In fact, some Yazidis had joined far-Left groups allegedly linked to the PKK as part of the struggle against ISIS. Turkey wanted to use this as an excuse to invade. Turkey has a long track record of invading and ethnically cleansing Yazidis and Kurds, in Afrin in Syria in 2019, and Tel Abyad in Syria in October 2019.It appears that Iran, having helped the Iraqi government grab Sinjar from the Kurdistan region, doesn’t want Turkey entering Sinjar now. For the minorities, like Yazidis, no one seems to care. Even the pope will be arriving in Mosul soon, but not Sinjar.
In that context, the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi told Rudaw, a Kurdish media outlet, that Ankara should not be violating Iraq’s sovereignty. "We reject military intervention in Iraq and Turkish forces should not pose a threat or violate Iraqi soil," Masjedi told Rudaw’s Mushtaq Ramazan last week in an exclusive interview. "The security of the Iraqi area should be maintained by Iraqi forces and [Kurdistan] Region forces in their area."Masjedi appeared to go even further than opposing an invasion of Sinjar, he said Turkey should withdraw forces from bases in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region. Turkey has long preyed on the Kurdish region, claiming to fight the PKK, and set up dozens of bases. Swaths of villages have been depopulated because of PKK-Turkish fighting in the otherwise peaceful, mountainous region. Recently Turkey launched operations striking PKK bases.
Turkey’s hold on the Kurdish region has also resulted in tensions between the Kurdish authorities in Erbil, led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the PKK. It has also resulted in tensions between Sulamaniyeh, controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, and the KDP. For Turkey, this is fine because Erbil relies on Turkey for economic lifelines and Turkey can use its leverage here. For the PUK, this is not ideal but the PUK is linked more to Iran’s views.