SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – In its recent politburo meeting, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) discussed the party’s relations with Turkey and Ankara’s ban on flights to and from Sulaimani international airport.
“We remain neighbors with Turkey. We will execute our neighborly duties according to international laws, although we have notes on their stances,” Saadi Pira, a PUK politburo member, said after the meeting.
“We are committed to living together, which is why we have to organize our relations in a way that we don’t harm, but respect each other’s interests. We are certain we will move forward, and are trying to resolve the problem through special channels,” he added.
A PUK official blamed the PKK for the strained relationship.
“We have had no big problem with each other so far. The beginning of this problem goes back to the two MIT officers who came to Sulaimani without the knowledge of any party and were later arrested by the PKK. Turkey blamed this incident on us. But this has nothing to do with us. We were unaware of it,” Farid Asasard, a PUK politburo member, said.
“There are currently no diplomatic relations between us as a party and Turkey as a state. But both parties need to normalize these relations. The KRG should work to normalize the relations because Sulaimani too is a part of this region. That is why it is the duty of the government to resolve the problem,” he said.
“Thus far, we as a party have taken no practical steps to resolve the problem. Nothing has been done,” Asasar explained.
In August 2017, the PKK kidnapped two MIT officers at a hotel in the town of Dukan. This incident angered Turkey, which immediately expelled the PUK representative in Ankara, although the PUK declared it had nothing to do with the incident.
Asasard suggests two ways to resolve the problem with Turkey.
“In the first step, we should restore diplomatic relations. In the second step, Turkey should be committed to not repeat what they did and not enter our territory to carry out activities, the same way as we haven’t entered their territory to conduct operations.”
After Turkey imposed its ban on flights bound for Sulaimani, the PUK’s former envoy to Ankara, Bahroz Galali, warned that Sulaimani province could be under threat if Turkey puts the PUK on a terror list.
“Turkey cannot put the PUK on a terror list because the PUK is known and dealt with internationally. Turkey will be making a big mistake if it takes such steps. Doing so will be costly to Turkey and will close all doors to a solution,” Asasard said.
“We need to prevent war in the region by all means because people are exhausted and cannot endure war. That is why we and the government should resolve the problem diplomatically,” Blesa Jabar Farman, a PUK leadership member, said.
“We have not seen the government take any clear stance on this matter yet and it is unclear what their plan is in this regard. The KRG should understand that there is a bigger purpose behind Turkey dealing separately with provinces. By doing so, Turkey wants to create disagreements between the parties of the Kurdistan Region. Its aim is to dissolve the entity of the Kurdistan Region. The government should therefore not allow this kind of separate treatment,” Blesa added.
Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said late last month that he was “personally” involved in efforts to convince Turkey to open its airspace for international flights to and from Sulaimani International Airport. He added though that "it takes time."
Blesa thinks there are other reasons behind the diplomatic fallout between Turkey and the PUK.
“We have always supported our colleagues in other parts of Kurdistan and have had our own opinion on the way Turkey treats the Kurds and Kurdish parties in north Kurdistan. We have said that Turkey should give the Kurds their rights. That is why complications started to build up between us until Turkey finally expelled our representative and cut the diplomatic relations,” Blesa said.
“We need to ensure that Turkey understands that our support for the Kurds’ just cause in all the parts of Kurdistan is not against them. In a bid to establish this understanding, a meeting has been officially called. We have asked for this in an official letter, and Turkey has also called for a meeting. But no official meeting has taken place yet,” Blesa said.
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