Syria, Libya, Iraq ... Turkey and its army on all fronts

Turkey intervenes in all directions on more than one front. After northern Syria and western Libya, where Turkish soldiers or instructors are deployed, Ankara dispatched, on Wednesday June 17, special forces to Haftanin, in northern Iraq, as part of 'an operation launched against rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Called "Tiger Claws", this ground operation was preceded by an intense artillery bombardment, and follows a campaign of air strikes, started in the night from Sunday to Monday, in Kandil, Sinjar and Hakurk, localities from northern Iraq.

Hands free to intervene in Iraq?

This is not the first time that the Turkish army has attacked PKK, on ​​Iraqi soil, which has been considered a terrorist organization by Ankara (and its western allies), since it started in 1984 an armed and secessionist rebellion with Turkey. "This operation is not exceptional because since the beginning of the 1990s, Turkish interventions have been carried out regularly in Iraqi Kurdistan and are even part of a certain continuity", underlines Adel Bakawan, director of the Sociology Center of the 'Iraq from Soran University, Iraqi Kurdistan, France 24.

If Turkey seems to have a free hand to intervene on the territory of a sovereign state like Iraq - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has never hidden his will to "take care" of the PKK in the north of the country, c is because it has a kind of tacit local green light, experts say.

"The regional government of Kurdistan and the Iraqi government could not ignore the imminence of such an operation, explains Adel Bakawan. It suffices to analyze the timidity of Baghdad's reaction to the Turkish air raids that preceded it."

Turkish ambassador summoned to protest air strikes, "but he was not even received by Iraqi foreign minister Fouad Hussein, who has just been appointed and is in no hurry to crumple entering Turkey, "says Adel Bakawan. The ambassador replied that his country would continue its action against "terrorism" as long as Baghdad had not expelled the PKK from its territory.

But after expressing formal protests denouncing a "violation of the sovereignty" of the country after the raids, the Iraqi government reconvened the Turkish ambassador on Thursday, the day after the deployment of special troops, and called on Ankara to withdraw its troops of its territory and to cease "acts of provocation".

"It should be borne in mind that the Turkish offensives, especially on the ground, are being carried out in full coordination with the authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan, based in Erbil. According to the agreement signed with Turkey and Iran, in 2013, the government Kurdistan Regional Council is required, according to the security section of the text, to guarantee that its territory does not become a source of threat to the security of the two regional powers, and to participate in the stabilization and security of the national borders of these two countries " .

In addition to being the bane of Turkish power, the PKK, which does not recognize the regional government of Kurdistan as a legitimate entity, also seems to be unanimous against it in the Iraqi political spheres.

"By imposing de facto its military force in this region of Iraq, the PKK, which has invited itself on the territory of this country without requesting the authorization of Baghdad, or that of the regional authorities, is endangering their respective security systems, said Adel Bakawan. Until recently, there have been confrontations between the Iraqi army and PKK brigades in the Sinjar region. "

If the final objective and the scale of this new Turkish operation remain unclear, it remains nonetheless, from a more global point of view, than the military hyperactivity of Turkey, Syria, Libya and Iraq, calls on specialists.

"It is clear, beyond this episode in Iraq, that the Turkish president is pursuing a Middle Eastern project much broader than the immediate entourage of Turkey, believes Adel Bakawan. By being present on all fronts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to show the international powers that his country is essential for the resolution of conflicts in the region, and above all to impose the idea that he has a say in the reconfiguration of the Middle East, and even beyond, we also see it in Libya ".

What room for maneuver for Westerners against Erdogan?

This hyperactivity could also be explained by an internal agenda specific to the Turkish president. "By engaging his country on several fronts, Tayyip Recep Erdogan is trying to capitalize on his foreign policy and his image as a warlord in order to re-mobilize his militant base, weakened by divisions within the AKP [the ruling party, Ed. ] ", emphasizes Adel Bakawan.

A risky bet according to the expert, "because the war efforts are very expensive for a Turkish economy already in bad shape, and which has been weakened a little more by the pandemic of coronavirus".

Turkey is also benefiting from a dynamic characterized by the withdrawal of Western powers from the Middle East, in particular the United States, to the benefit of other actors.

"Ankara exploits, like Moscow, the context of disengagement of Westerners which leaves the way free to other powers to advance their pawns in the region, underlines Adel Bakawan.

Finally, despite recent protests by France concerning the "unacceptable" interventionism of Ankara in Libya, or even an "extremely aggressive" action by Turkish ships carried out against a French vessel in the Mediterranean, the West, and especially the Europeans, have very little room for maneuver against Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"What card can they play to put pressure on Turkey, which is a member of NATO, remember?" Asks Adel Bakawan. Impose economic sanctions? Engage in armed conflict? Threaten to reject the candidacy country’s accession to the European Union? That doesn’t hold, apart from perhaps the economic dimension. "

On the contrary, Ankara has several cards in hand to put pressure on Europe, starting with blackmail linked to the flows of migrants, from Greece and, from now on, from Libya.

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