According to Iraqi and Turkish sources, a barrage of rockets struck the vicinity of the Turkish consulate in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul on Wednesday. The Turkish ministry said no injuries or damage to structures have been reported yet, adding that “We (the ministry) condemn this attack … in the strongest terms and expect those responsible to be brought to justice as soon as possible.”
Ankara’s ministry also indicated that it was a “grave” development that the rocket attack occurred at the same time a United Nations Security Council meeting was being held to discuss an earlier missile barrage in northern Iraq last week. Regardless of the perpetrators of both attacks, Iraq remains the battleground for several foreign entities.
The Turkish and Kurdish Conflict
Last week, Ankara denied responsibility for a deadly attack on a resort targeting Iraq’s Duhok province that killed eight people and injured many others. Turkey has a long history of carrying out airstrikes in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview that “The whole world knows that Turkey has never carried out a counter-attack against civilians.” The minister added, “In Iraq, [our target] has always been directed against terrorist organizations. It is also significant that such an event took place at a time when our relations with Iraq were improving and our fight against terrorism was successful.” Cavusoglu is referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as the terrorist group Ankara has prioritized countering.
The PKK began waging its insurgency in the mid-1980s when the organization launched offensives targeting Turkish authorities for enhanced political and cultural rights with the ultimate ambition of securing an independent Kurdish state. Today, over thirty million Kurds live in the Middle East, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took power, tensions between the state and its roughly fourteen million Kurdish civilians have risen. Notably, the PKK, “the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) (a left-wing pro-Kurdish party), and the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) (the armed wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) with ties to the PKK) have increasingly agitated against the government, conducting numerous attacks against Turkish authorities in the southeast.”
In addition to Turkey, Kurdish fighters have played an active role in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State. An alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters makes up the Syrian Defense Forces, which is supported by the United States. The SDF-controlled semi-autonomous region in northern Syria is routinely bombarded by Turkish-affiliated forces like the Free Syrian Army (FSA). In 2018, after a three-month-long assault on the Kurdish-controlled city of Afrin, the FSA was able to capture the city. Since then, Ankara’s affiliates have carried out numerous assaults targeting the Kurdish groups, rather than the Islamic State.
Kurds in Iraq
In Iraq, the Peshmerga function to protect the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. As Islamic State militants have pushed further and further in the territories surrounding northern Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been on the front lines of numerous attacks. Iraq’s security forces often work with the Peshmerga and have even equipped the fighters with state-issued weaponry.
Last December, the Islamic State launched two attacks over the span of two days in northern Iraq. The terror group captured Luhaiban village and later killed four Peshmerga soldiers and one civilian in an attack targeting Qara Salem village. In April, Turkish Forces launched several drone attacks targeting Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq. According to Voice of America, Ankara’s state-run media said that “Turkish military forces using planes, helicopters and drones attacked Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq … The targets included camps and ammunition depots in the regions of Metina, Zap, and Avashin-Basyan.”
Following last week’s resort attack that killed eight and wounded dozens of others, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi blamed Erdogan and Turkish forces. The PM tweeted that “The Turkish forces committed blatant violation of the sovereignty of Iraq.”
In recent years, Iraq has served as the battleground for multiple regional conflicts. Iranian-backed militias launch attacks targeting U.S. assets and personnel in the region, in addition to offensives aimed at weakening anti-Iranian political forces in the country. Turkey frequently carries out airstrikes targeting Kurdish groups in northern Iraq. On top of Iran and Turkey’s malign behavior in the country, Iraq must also contend with attacks perpetrated by the Islamic State.
While Erdogan is unlikely to confess to the deadly resort incident that resulted in the deaths of civilians, it is widely suspected by industry experts that Ankara is undoubtfully behind the attack. In order for Iraq to achieve the “sovereignty” from independent entities that its polity desires, Turkish and Iranian-backed offensives in the country must be met with consequences.
Maya Carlin is a Middle East Defense Editor with 19FortyFive. She is also an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel.
