Masoud Barzani, the leader of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), was in Ankara yesterday to discuss deepening Turkish support for Kurdish fighters in Iraq. For the past week, Turkish soldiers have been in Iraq, supposedly “advising” Kurdish fighters as they prepare to wrestle back control of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, from ISIL’s grip.
Turkey’s decision to send troops and tanks into Iraq without asking for Baghdad’s permission has brought the question of Iraqi sovereignty back to the forefront of regional challenges. As The National reported yesterday, the Turkish troop build-up has sparked outrage from Baghdad, which has labelled the move a violation of the country’s national boundaries. Over the past several years, Turkey has been helping to grow Iraqi Kurdish desires for independence by purchasing oil from the autonomous region, exporting it to Mediterranean seaports on the Turkish coast and filling the KRG coffers.
While Turkey has been busy “advising” Kurdish forces, the number of foreign fighters joining extremist groups appears to be increasing, according to a report published this week by the Soufan Group consultancy. The report found that the number of fighters has nearly doubled and roughly 31,000 foreigners have joined groups like ISIL in the past year in Syria and Iraq. For ISIL, it is well known that the extremists require a steady flow of fresh fighters to keep up their control over large areas of land and cities like Mosul.
Now more than ever, there is a serious need to safeguard and deepen Baghdad’s waning control over Iraq as a single state. The central government remains the only institution that has the capacity and international support needed to sufficiently challenge extremist groups on the ground. With Iraqi sovereignty in place, the international community can work to increase Baghdad’s capabilities to confront extremism in its midst.
Turkey’s forays with the Iraqi Kurds, its unwillingness to work with the Kurds fighting ISIL in Syria and its violation of Iraqi borders is far from the ideal role for Ankara. At a minimum, Turkey shouldn’t be fanning the flames of Iraq’s internal disintegration and should fall closer in line with western plans to return the region to stability.
