https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/28/turkey-summons-iran-envoy-over-remarks-on-iraq-operations
This past Sunday, Turkey summoned an Iranian envoy to Ankara, after remarks from the Iranian ambassador of Iraq criticizing Turkey’s operations against the PKK within Iraqi territory. Turkey has been engaged in a continual cross-border military campaign against the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group, and other Kurdish independence groups, since 2015. However, this campaign has not come without criticism, especially from Tehran. In his recent remarks, theIranian ambassador to Baghdad, Iraj Masjedi, accused Turkey of violating the sovereignty of Iraq and, in effect, further destabilizing the region. Ankara, reasonably enough, saw the irony in such a comment coming from Iran, of all places, with one official saying, “The Ambassador of Iraq should be the last person to lecture Turkey about respecting the borders of Iraq.”
In this story, a brief glimpse is afforded us of the nature of the power struggle between Turkey and Iran. There are indeed some similarities in their respective approach to foreign policy in the Middle East, but ultimately, it is Iran that has the upper hand. Vying to become the “hegemon” of the region, Iran is more aggressive and assertive in its ambitions than Turkey, and because of this, their ambassadors and officials can claim Turkey’s operations are “unjustified”. While the two countries may seemingly find common ground in their pursuit to quash the influence of Kurdish militias, ultimately their ambitions are not reconcilable, as evidenced by these recent events.
(Feb 28)