Turkey has urged Iran to stop attacking Kurdish opposition groups in the region, warning that further strikes could push the groups closer to Israel and undermine Ankara's peace process with Kurdish militants.
The message was delivered during a visit to Tehran by Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz earlier this month for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, where he was hosted by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Sources familiar with the visit said Pezeshkian thanked Turkey for helping to prevent an Israeli plan to arm Kurdish groups and foment an insurrection inside Iran.
Turkey had pressed Washington to abandon the plan, which was reportedly devised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Senior US officials were skeptical, with the CIA director reportedly dismissing the regime-change scenarios as farcical. President Donald Trump indirectly suggested that Ankara had even considered entering the war to prevent a new Kurdish separatist entity on its borders.
Ankara now fears that continued Iranian attacks could drive the Kurdish groups into Israel's arms and disrupt its peace process with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey plans to introduce draft legislation on Monday that would allow non-violent former PKK fighters to return to Turkey within six months.
Iran has bombarded camps belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in northern Iraq since the US-Iran war began in late February. Attacks in recent weeks on bases of the Komala party in Iraqi Kurdistan have killed at least 10 fighters, according to Keywan Faramarzi, Komala's international relations officer. He blamed Iran, although no one has claimed responsibility.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused Israel and the US of plotting to break up Iran using Kurdish groups and warned that Iran would respond to any threat from Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Kurdish groups deny any involvement in US or Israeli operations and say reports of a planned Kurdish ground incursion are speculation. In February, several parties, including Komala, PAK, PDKI, Khabat and PJAK, formed a coalition calling for the overthrow of Iran's government, but they have declared neutrality in the US-Iran conflict and say they have not received weapons from Washington. Analysts say the coalition is far too weak to pose a serious military threat to Iran's security forces.
Turkish experts warn that Iran's strikes could push the groups closer to the West, especially Israel, and make the political balance in Iraq's Kurdistan region more fragile. Mehmet Alaca, a Turkish expert on Iraq, said the extension of the Iran-Israel rivalry into Iraqi Kurdistan would directly undermine Turkey's long-term security calculations.